


fearing the unknown

by daisystars



Category: The Walking Dead (Telltale Video Game)
Genre: basically clem was murdered by some dude oop, ghost au, relationships are to be determined as i continue to write this
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-13
Updated: 2020-07-29
Packaged: 2020-12-14 17:01:40
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 8
Words: 21,323
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21019193
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/daisystars/pseuds/daisystars
Summary: When Louis' curiosity gets the better of him and an unsolved murder case tickles his interest, it's up to him and Violet to get to the bottom of it before anyone else does.Their planned and thought out trip to the location the crime took place at decades ago takes a turn that neither of them anticipated, and before they even realize it, they're in too deep to back out.(edited summary)





	1. the house nobody goes to

“Did you bring the candles?”

“Yes.”

“And the Ouija board?”

“Yes, Lou.”

“And most importantly, did you bring the Funyuns AND the Pringles I asked for.”

“Yes Louis, I brought everything you asked for.” The said boy squealed hearing those words slip out, happily skipping down the sidewalk covered in autumn leaves. Trailing behind him was Violet, her hands shoved in each pocket of her black jeans. In all honesty, she didn’t want to be here, walking to the famous “House of Carnage”, or as local teenagers like to refer to it as, the “Big Boy Murder House”. People of West Virginia say it’s the most haunted house in all of the state, though no one knows for sure. Why you may ask? The gruesome death that occurred in the walls of the two-story building.

Not much is known about the murder that happened to date back to 1850, thanks to the amount of technology people had access to back then and the poor amount of knowledge they had on the case. All that is known about the tragic incident is that a 16-year-old young lady was brutally stabbed only one time, it being right in the heart. No one knows how long she had been dead, the only reason her body was found was because the mother of the girl realized her daughter was missing and requested her husband to go out and help find her. Hours later they finally found the house and their daughter. But she was already dead.

The family decided it would be best to keep the whole incident a secret, so the public never found out about the murder for years. After the parents passed away due to incurable illnesses years later, police decided to investigate the family’s history, and anything else useful that they thought was important to them. That’s when the public discovered she had been dead all this time, the family having a tiny grave in their backyard, only containing her belongings and a note explaining how she died.

“So, Vi Vi,” Louis began.

“Never call me that again.”

“Knew you were gonna say that, anyway! Do you think we’re gonna see some ghosts today? Maybe even see... Her?”

“Lou, seriously? How long have you been on that we might see the ghost of a girl who was murdered and people didn’t know she was murdered until like what, five years later?”

“Has someone been doing some research? Ooo, this is new. Violet actually looking something up!”

“Why did I agree to do this again?” Violet muttered to herself, looked up at the sky, staring at the grey clouds that prevented any sunlight from shining down. Out of all the days they could’ve done this, it had to be on a gloomy day?

“Because you promised AJ you would check the place out, and you know the rules about promises.” Louis chimed in, even the grey sky couldn’t make him not happy. “And besides, ghost hunting is always fun! Or are you too chicken to participate?”

“I am not!”

“Uh-huh, that’s what I thought.” Louis strolled ahead, Violet having to walk faster to not fall behind. Each step drew them closer and closer to the house, the street it sat on too was deserted. Very few people lived on the unnamed street, and those who did were either very poor or homeless. Even the houses near the road grew slim in number, not many people wanting to live near such a part of town is what the two teens guessed. A late afternoon breeze brushed past them, sending shivers down Violet’s arms, even though she was wearing a large, fluffy sweatshirt. Dead looking trees started to scatter across the fields, showing they were going the right way.

Before they knew it, they were standing in front of the house. The paint on the wood has well now decayed off, the dry paint peelings crumbled up in the no leaf bushes. The small front porch looked to be on its final stage, the second to the last step having a large hole in them. The old, rotting lanterns that were drilled onto each side of the front door were nearly about to fall off the wall, the glass that used to be on them shattered. All the windows blocked any views of inside, curtains or large objects most likely blocking any outside light from entering in.

“Wow! Look at this place!” Louis gestures to the house in front of them, “Now this, this is my dream environment.”

“Your dream environment? This shithole?”

“Oh come on Vi, you cannot tell me this place isn’t cool looking.”

“Lou,” Violet pinched the bridge of her nose, “It’s old and rotting. You would really move out of your six million dollar home to live in this?”

“Well, yeah, this place does need a couple of makeovers. But! I’m sure I could make it work.”

“And how are you going to do that, exactly?” Violet asked.

Louis thought for a moment, him tapping his chin. After a few moments of no response, Violet laughed, “That’s what I thought.”

“Hey! I’m still thinking!”

“No, you’re not, now c’mon, are we going in or not?”

“Yes yes, you impatient lesbian.” Louis trotted ahead of her, carefully climbing the set of stairs like they were the most delicate things in the world. Violet followed after him, not being as careful on the stairs and ascended up the stairs how she would normally go up stairs. The two met up at the front door, standing beside it.

“Did we bring any weapons? Like a gun or knife?” Louis brought up, making Violet raise a brow.

“Why the hell would we need stuff like that?”

“You know, for protection.”

“.... Louis, if we shot a bullet at a ghost, where the fuck do you think it would go?”

“Oh, yeah I didn’t think about that- wait now hold on a second, are you saying you believe in ghosts??”

“I never said that, I’m just saying.” Violet turned away, arms crossed. The sight made Louis laugh. He reached into his backpack and pulled out two flashlights, handing one to Vi while keeping the other. His free hand hovered over the doorknob, looking at her for her approval.

She gave him the nod of approval, watching him slowly creak the door open. A gust of freezing air escaped the house once the door was opened, it immediately hitting them. Even with the sweatshirt on chills spread out through Violet’s spine, her whole body shaking. Louis had fully opened the front door, them being able to see the entire foyer of the house. Goddamnit Louis, why must you open the door all the way?

The foyer hardly had anything left in it, an old dusty table resting in the middle of the room where a chandelier hung delicately over it. Who knows how that chandelier was still standing, but it looked to be in good shape.

“Ladies first,” Violet urges, nudging her elbow into Louis’ chest.

He narrowed his eyes at her, “Just because my scream is a little higher than normal does not mean you can call me a woman.”

Violet snorted, holding the door open for him. Louis sighed, walking into the house. Vi filed in after him, shutting the door behind her a little too hard. The deafening sound of the door slamming echoed throughout the entire house, making the two teens jump.

“Thank you Violet,” Louis began, “For letting the murderous demons that haunt this home know our presence.”

“You're very welcome.”

“I’m serious Vi! If I die tonight just know I’m gonna be haunting you for the rest of your life.”

“And what if I died too? What’ll happen then hm?” Violet questioned.

“I.. shit you’re right, what if we both die?? We gotta make this night memorable if we do.”

“Is that why you asked me to bring my grandma’s Ouija board?”

“That is exactly why I asked you to do that!” Louis hummed, walking up and standing near the chandelier. He glances up at it, admiring its beauty.

“Well I’ll be damned, this thing looks like it was bought just yesterday!”

“I hope it falls on you.”

“Wh- Violet! Do you actually want me dead??”

“Maybe.” Violet smirked, leaving him behind and exploring down the narrow hallway to their right, him rambling how this is how Vi is paying him back after all those years of being best buddies echoing from the foyer. The hallway was pitch black, so Violet had to turn on her flashlight to see where she was going. Louis caught up to her, him also shining his flashlight around and giving out extra light. The lights glared down the hallway, illuminating portraits hung on both sides of the hall, muck and mold covering them.

They continued to walk down the hall, glancing at every corner to see if anything popped out at them. Nothing did, however, and they reached the end of the hallway. At the end of the hallway was the dining room, a large oak table taking up most of it. There was oddly only one chair in the room, it only having three out of four legs. The rest of the room’s walls were blank, the white wallpaper with tiny pink flowers printed along it starting to rip and decay off the walls. Dusty, black curtains covered the large window, a broken loveseat sitting underneath it.

Louis moved past Violet and entered the room, inspecting the singular chair, “How come there’s only one chair?”

Violet shrugged. “No idea.”

“Well that’s helpful information Vi, thanks.”

Violet walked over and stood next to him, looking down at the chair, “It’s useless now Lou, now c’mon, we still have more rooms to explore.”

“Alright, fine. Also if we find the missing chair leg to this baby I’m keeping it.”

“Why would you keep it? What’re you gonna do with a single chair leg?”

“I could make it into a weapon,” He clenches his fists together and lifts his arms up, like he was holding a baseball bat, “It could be like a bat, oo I could even add nails to it to make it even cooler!”

Violet raised a brow, “And will this weapon potentially protect us from the ghosts and demons that live here?”

“Exactly! Now the only problem is I have no idea where I’d find nails.”

“How presumptuous of you Lou.”

“Presumptuous! That’s- that’s a good thing, right?” Violet pressed her lips together, leaving the room and walking down the hallway again.

“Wh- is it bad? Violet, is that a bad thing?? Son of a bitch Vi, is it bad?!” He left the dining room, chasing after her.

The room grew dark again once they left, dark enough that they didn’t notice the pale silhouette of a young woman, staring at them as they ventured back to the foyer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey y'all! hope you enjoyed this uwu
> 
> i've always been a fan of paranormal stuff so why not make a ghost au with some spooky stuff oOOoOoO
> 
> it's also spooky szn so,,,, yeah


	2. the ghost visitor

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> louis and violet decide to speak to the dead, because that’s what you do at haunted places right?

The moon had fully emerged into the sky, shining brightly upon the neighborhood. Louis and Violet weren’t able to see the full moon, thanks to the drawn curtains blocking every single window in the house. Louis tried to pull back one of them, but the curtains had gotten so much dust and shit on them it made it impossible to move them. It was like they were glued tightly onto something.

The teens had explored the entire house, checking out every room. Thank god they only had one little incident. Louis nearly cracked his head open if you’re wondering what happened.

Now they were chilling in the main living area, them sitting on the floor on top of their childish sleeping bags because the couch was way too dirty to sit on and Louis was being picky like the rich person he is. Most of the food they brought along had been eaten now, the family-sized bags of Funyuns somehow on the other side of the room. Violet was scrolling through her phone, hardly paying attention to Louis’ rambling.

“And then, people say they see some guy without a head standing near a window, looking outside and watching cars drive by!”

“Louis, no one cares about those stupid, dumb, oh and plain old bullshit stories.”

“I care!” Louis protested, “This stuff is interesting! People have seen this stuff, stuff that should be impossible!”

Violet groaned, “Louis, if these stories are true, we would’ve experienced something unnatural and actually entertaining by now.”

“Well..” Louis leaned over and reached into Violet’s backpack, pulling out the Ouija board, “Maybe we have to lure some ghosties in?”

“I thought we were saving that till it reached three am?”

“Well, I was originally thinking of doing that, but you know I get waaay too impatient with this kind of stuff and I would love to speak to some ghouls.” He took the board out of the box, spreading it out in between the both of them, “You mind getting out the candles?”

Violet sighs, going through her backpack and pulling out four candles and a lighter. She set the candles around the board, carefully lighting each of them. Louis grinned like an idiot, scooting closer to the board and placed the planchette in the center of the board. He gestures Violet to come closer, which she does.

“So,” Louis rubbed his hands together, “What’s it like talking to the dead?”

“You’ve never played with an Ouija board?”

“Nope! I used to be a real wimp when I was little.” Louis said proudly.

“I can see that from you, your scream really brings it out.”

“What did I say about bringing up my scream??” Violet snickered, placing her hands on the planchette. Louis rolled his eyes, putting his hands on it as well.

“Okay, now what?”

“We gotta get the dead’s attention.”

“Yeah, no shit Vi. That’s the whole damn point of an Ouija board.” Violet did her iconic eye roll once he said that. He wasn’t wrong though.

“Would you like me to start Lou?”

“Yes please.”

“Okay, uh, is anyone in the room with us?”

Silence filled the room after Violet spoke, not even anything from outside making noise. The teens looked at each other, uncomfortable with the silence. All of a sudden they felt the planchette move under their fingers, heading in the direction of the YES boldly printed on the board.

“Violet stop moving it.”

“Louis, I’m not moving it. You stop moving it.”

“I’m not moving anything! The only thing I’m moving is my lips!” The planchette had stopped moving now, it being directly above the YES. The two looked back and forth at one another and the planchette, in all honesty shocked at what had just happened.

“Why are you shocked, Vi? You’ve played with an Ouija board before.”

“Well yeah, but I’ve never gotten a response that quick before.”

“Well isn’t this our lucky day. Night. Who cares. Anyway, now what do we do?”

“We start asking it questions,” Violet replied, “Who they are, what happened to them, blah blah blah.”

“Oh fuck yes, this’ll be fun,” Louis cleared his throat, “Hey demons, how’s it going?”

“Dude! What the fuck is wrong with you??”

“What? You told me to ask questions!”

“They might not even be a demon you twat!” Violet hissed.

“Ooh, right, sorry. Let me correct myself. Yo ghosts, how’s it going?” Violet deeply sighed, concerned for the well being of her friend. The planchette started to move again, it slowly sliding towards the letter G. It then moved on to the letter O, moved back to O, then finally moved to the letter D.

“Awh, they’re good! That’s interesting, I’d figured they’d be miserable.”

“Why would you think that?” Violet questioned.

“Because they’re dead and all, so, yeah.”

“God, why do I hang out with you again?”

“Because I’m a delight to be around, that’s why.” Louis grinned widely, making Violet roll her eyes, like she usually does.

Hours passed, and during that time they spent continuing to talk to different spirits that were in the house with them. They all seemed the same, giving really identical answers to the really identical questions. They all said they were around fifteen to sixteen years old, so they were young when they died. In Violet’s perspective, these conversations were getting boring, and kept getting even more boring as they talked to other spirits. It wasn’t until it reached around two in the morning that they got to experience a truly interesting conversation with someone they didn’t expect.

“Okay, is there anyone else in this house that would like to make themselves known? If so, please oh please speak now, my dear friend Violet is getting bored.”

“My hands are starting to cramp, maybe we should just stop and continue later.”

“No way! Just one more conversation, please??” Louis even gave the puppy dog face while saying that.

“Fucking christ,” Violet muttered under her breath, “Fine, but only one more. We can talk to ghosts later you know.”

“Eee! Thank you! Okay, lemme repeat myself, is there anyone else in the house?”

A long, dreadful silence filled in once Louis stopped talking. Seconds turned into minutes, and nothing happened. Violet tilted her head back, groaning up at the ceiling. “See? No one wants to talk, let’s just stop and do this later.”

“We can’t stop now! Not yet! Please, Vi? Just a couple more minutes??” Louis begged.

“No Lou, it’s been a couple of minutes, and no one wants to talk-”

“Vi shh! Look!”

The planchette was moving again, it moving a lot slower than the other times. It made its way over to the word YES, stopping once on top of it.

“See! What’d I tell you?”

“C’mon, let’s just get this conversation over with.”

“Damn, someone’s cranky. Ask them a question!”

“Fine fine,” Violet scooted closer to the board, “Uhh, how’s your day going?”

The planchette moved down the board, sitting on top of the letter O. It then moved over slightly to the letter K.

“Well this is different,” Louis pointed out, “Everyone else said that they were good.”

“Yeah, I can see that Lou.”

“Okay! Off to a good start, so uh, do you have a name?”

The planchette didn’t move for a few seconds. Once it did, it was very slow on moving across the board. It eventually finished, spelling out ‘not important’.

“Looks like they’re not comfortable sharing their name,” Violet stated.

“No kidding. I’m not judging though, it’s their name!”

“Of course you’d say that. Okay, it’s your turn to ask a question.”

“Hm, let’s see. How did you die?”

Once again, the planchette didn’t move for quite some time. Then, it started to finally move, starting off with the letter M. It continued to spell out the word it wanted to say until they were finished.

“My god..”

“Murdered? Goddamn.”

“Louis, be nice. They’ve probably had a rough few years.”

“Okay okay, sorry. It’s your turn to ask it something.”

“What am I supposed to ask it? What’s it like being dead??”

“Hell no!” Louis snapped at her, “You can’t ask a ghost what is it like being dead! They may not even know they’re dead!”

He had a point. According to their friend Aasim, who they asked beforehand about ghosts and shit, he pointed out never talk about the afterlife. He said something about it angering the dead, since they somehow don’t like the topic? Violet couldn’t fully remember, but something along those lines. Then again, he did mention not to contact the dead by any means, because who knows what the hell they could be getting themselves into. Well, looks like they failed at doing that.

“Fine then! What do I ask it?”

“I don’t know, pay them a compliment!”

“Seriously Louis? Give them a fucking compliment?”

“Just do it!”

“Fine fine!” Violet thought of something to say. “Uh, you look nice today?”

“Why, thank you.”

The flames on the candles flickered away. The room was now pitch black. The teens stayed silent, staring at each other in horror. Someone didn’t just respond to them, right?

Louis’ high pitched scream broke the silence, startling Violet. “Dude, what the hell?!”

“It- it- behind you!” He stuttered, his shaky hand pointing behind her. Violet turned her head to look behind her, and what she saw left her terrified.

A faded, almost invisible, figure fell upon her gaze, and a sinister yet comforting smile grew on it's unintelligible face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello! i hope you enjoyed this chapter uwu
> 
> i’d like to thank my dear friends (you know who you are lol) for helping me out with writing this chapter, it means the world to me!!!
> 
> anyways, hope you’re ready for future chapters! cuz i know i am haha ;))


	3. boo, i scared you, but i didn’t mean to

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> lou and vi are on an epic chase to try and leave the house, and finally have a normal conversation with the spirit that’s been stalking them

“Move your ass, Lou!”

“I’m running as fast as I can!”

“Well run faster!” The said boy did as he was told, now running alongside Violet. They found themselves entering a bedroom, Louis swiftly turning around and slamming the door shut. Violet took a moment to catch her breath, her hands resting on her knees.

“I think- I think we lost her.”

“I damn hope we did!” Louis threw his arms up in the air, “We just got chased- fucking chased- by that.. woman!”

“I’m aware of that,” Violet sat down on the bed that was still stable, “Goddamnit, how the hell are we gonna get out of here with her roaming around the entire house??”

“I have, zero clue on how we’re gonna pull that off.” Louis states.

“Wow, thanks for the help, Lou.”

“No problem Vi!”

The floor creaking outside the room caused them to go quiet, glancing over at the door. The creaking continued to echo throughout the house, each creak growing louder and louder. It soon stopped, sounding like whatever made the noise was standing close. So close that it felt like it was right outside the door.

“Okay, who’s gonna be the brave one here and go check outside?” Louis laughed nervously. He looked at Violet, silently begging her to be the one that did it. Violet groaned, standing up and staring down at the door, “If that woman is standing there looking straight at me I’m gonna piss my pants.”

“Oh don’t worry, you won’t be the only one that will piss your pants if that happens.” Violet rolled her eyes. She slowly crept towards the door, Louis staying close beside her. She grasped the doorknob, taking a long deep breath before swinging the door wide open. To their slight relief, there was nothing there. Just the dark hallway that didn’t move.

“Where did she go?”

“Did she give up? Damn, if that’s the case she gives up very quick.”

“C’mon,” Violet stepped out of the room, looking left and right down the siding hallways, which were empty, “Let’s get out of here before she comes back.”

“That sounds delightful. Let’s do that.” They rushed down the hall, making their way back towards the entrance. Or so they thought.

Twenty minutes had passed, and the two teens had found themselves back at the room they originally hid in. How did they get back all the way over here? Did they just make a huge circle?

“Oh come on!” Violet kicks the wall beside her aggressively, “Why are we all the way back here?!”

“Vi, calm down. I’m sure we just took a wrong turn! I mean, all the hallways here seem the same.”

“But they.. aren’t! Haven’t you noticed the paintings and portraits in each of the hallways?”

“Uhh no, I don’t really pay attention to that stuff.”

“Ugh just- come here.” Violet grips his arm and drags him down the hall. They walk down the way they would have to go to get to the entrance. She stops him at a portrait of a very wealthy looking man, pointing at him, “So, you see this man?”

“Yyyes?”

“We walked past him when we first got here, and if I remember correctly we first made a right down this hallway and-”

“- Wait, wouldn’t that mean the dining room is around here?” Louis said.

“Shit you’re right! That means it would be.. right..” Violet looks around, no signs of the dining room around them, “Wouldn’t it be right behind us?”

“Yeah, it would. So that means.. we’re either completely dumb ooor..”

“Somebody switched the frames.”

“Pardon?”

“Someone switched them! Something here doesn’t want us to leave! Oh god Lou, this is it! We’re gonna die here!”

“We are not gonna die here!” Louis told her, “We’ll find the entrance one way or another, I promise. We just gotta keep looking!”

And so they did. Another twenty minutes passed and to their dismay, nothing. It felt like they were going in perfect circles, keeping on passing by the same paintings or portraits every ten seconds. They were now sitting down in one of the bedrooms, Louis sitting on the bed while Violet was constantly pacing around. You could see the sweat dripping down her face, a bundle of seriousness in her eyes no one can miss.

“Violet,” Louis began, “You need to calm down, you’re overreacting.”

“Me? Me? I’m overreacting?? How are you so calm about this! We’re literally stuck in a place that’s presumably haunted and we can’t find the fucking exit out of this shithole!”

“Oh I’m not calm, I’m utterly terrified right now. Can’t you see it?”

“Well you’re awful damn good at hiding it!” Violet held her head in her hands, looking like she was about to scream.

“Violet, really, you gotta calm down. What did we talk about when we have episodes like this?”

“We scream our asses off.”

“Uh no, we uh we don’t do that. The word starts with a B.”

“We beat something up?”

“No! Just-” Louis sighed, “Breathe. The word is breathe.”

“You know that’s hard for me to do right.”

“Violet, you’re literally doing it right now!”

“Fine fine! I’ll try.”

“That’s the spirit! C’mon, I’ll even do it with you.”

Ever since Violet’s father had become a drunk, and her mother never being around because of her many jobs, Violet’s life took a big downfall and ever since then she’s been stuck in a huge depressing state. Louis, being concerned for his dear friend, has done everything in his power to make sure his friend was okay and happy at all times. He was only fifty percent failing at doing his job, but that didn’t matter.

“You feeling better?” Louis asks once they were done.

“Better than before, that’s for sure.”

“Great to hear! Now, let’s get our asses in gear and find that front door!” He shot up from the bed, him and Vi walking out of the room and down the hall. Instead of twenty minutes, an hour had passed, and guess what? They were still in the house.

“Alright, I give up.” Louis plopped himself down on the couch that laid in the living room, the same couch he said that it was too dirty, but now he couldn’t care less. Violet kicked his legs off the couch, sitting beside him, “Violet? Just know that I love you and am so glad I met you.”

“Yeah yeah, I know I’m great.” Violet grumbled, a small smirk forming on her lips.

“Well damn! That’s probably the first positive thing that came out of your mouth today!”

“It was not!”

“Was to!”

“Was not!”

“Was to!”

“Was-!”

“I’m going to have to agree with the boy, you have hardly spoken any positive words all throughout your visit here.”

The two teens froze. That wasn’t one of their voices. It was somebody else’s.

They slowly looked over, seeing the pale figure from earlier standing very close to them, her hands resting on her hips, “Honestly, you should really be more observant of your surroundings.”

Louis’ high pitched scream made the woman jump, him grabbing Violet’s arm and running top speed out of the room.

“Wait! Don’t leave yet! Please!”

“Jesus christ Lou! That was probably your highest scream yet!”

“Just keep running!”

“Alright alright!” The two continued to run down the hall, not really having a destination in mind this time. All they wanted to do was get away from that woman.

They stopped running once they were far away enough that she wouldn’t be able to find them, them ending up in a random hallway. Violet leaned against the wall, Louis looking back down the way they had just came from.

“I think,” Louis began, clearly out of breath, “I think we lost her that time.”

“I sure hope so,” Violet removed herself from the wall, “I don’t wanna be running around this place the entire night.”

“I’m sure we lost her this time, bet.”

“Alright, how much?”

Louis stared at her. “Oh shit you’re serious? I was just joking you know.”

Violet rolled her eyes, looking down the hallway, “Nevermind.”

“No c’mon! I’ll do it!”

Violet all of a sudden got tense, her eyes widening at something down the hall, “Shut up.”

“What? Why?”

“Just shut up!”

“Why do I- ow!” Violet was now dragging him by the ear into the room next to them, slamming the door shut. She motioned him towards the large closet in the back corner, rushing towards it. They filed into the dustiness inside it, carefully shutting the doors closed.

“Why are we here again? Did you see her?” Louis whispered.

“Nooo, I saw a cat. Yes I fucking saw her!!”

Without any warning, the air around them became much colder, practically at freezing point. Something was near. Or rather, someone.

The teens got a glimpse of the room from a tiny crack through the closet doors, nothing out of the ordinary. That didn’t last for long, the woman from before swiftly guided through the closed doors, stepping down onto the floor before looking around the room. The two teenagers stayed in the closet, watching in complete silence. After moments of finding nothing, the girl pouted, placing her hands on her hips.

“Pickles.” Violet quickly muttered, making Louis raise a brow.

“What?”

“I’m about to sneeze damnit!” And she was indeed, her leaning her head back and trying to hold it in. Louis panicked, instantly sliding a finger under her nose. This thankfully worked, preventing her from actually sneezing. They both sighed in relief, him removing his finger from her nose.

Violet immediately sneezed after he removed his finger.

The woman’s head snapped around, looking directly at the two. Louis inhaled sharply, giving Violet a ‘what the fuck have you done’ look. She mutters a sorry, peeking outside into the room to see if the woman had moved closer to the closet. To their surprise, she hadn’t. In fact, she wasn’t in the room at all. The two looked at each other, confused as hell. How did she just disappear like that?

“Did she really just leave like that?” Louis asked. Violet shrugged as an answer, glancing around the room again. Still nothing.

“Well, looks like that’s our cue to leave!”

“Can’t I get a hello first?”

The sound of the woman speaking made Louis, once again, scream, colliding into Violet and making them tumble out of the closet.

“Ow! That was my side you dumbass!”

“No time for that! We gotta go!” Louis helped her up, them rushing towards the door. They were however stopped by the woman standing in front of the door, blocking their only exit out of the room. Her face seemed calm and relaxed, like she totally wasn’t annoyed with the fact they weren’t cooperating with her. But really, on the inside she was getting real ticked off.

“No no no please!” Louis went down onto his knees, practically begging at this point, “I don’t wanna die! I surprisingly want to graduate high school before I perish from this world!”

“What? I’m not going to-”

“I still have places to go to! Like Japan or, or England! I wanna know the difference between fish and chips and french fries!!”

“But-”

“And I still need to pass chemistry! God, I’ll do anything if it means I get to pass chemistry!”

The woman raised a brow at him, looking up at Violet who just gave her a small shrug, not really wanting to say anything. Out of nowhere the girl started laughing, leaving the teens both confused and slightly terrified. Why was she laughing?

“You- you actually thought I was going to kill you?!” She continued to laugh, wiping her eye in order to prevent herself from crying. She soon managed to calm down, looking back at the two who were giving her horrified looks, “Oh wait you were actually serious?”

“Yes!!”

“Goodness, I must really work on my introductions towards others.” The woman took a deep breath, “I am dearly sorry about that. I can get a little, you know, excited when seeing new guests.”

“Uh-huh, sure..” Violet awkwardly said, helping Louis up from the floor and making sure he doesn’t run away or do anything stupid. She took the time to get a good look at the female in front of her, noting that her clothes looked more like something someone would wear on Halloween, either that or those were her actual clothes, which definitely don’t look like something someone would wear nowadays. Even when she spoke it didn’t sound modern either. Damn, how long has this girl been dead?

Louis had finally gotten his act back together, bowing his head slightly, “Excuse me and my dumbness, but it is a real pleasure to meet you.”

“Louis stop flirting with every girl you meet, it’s starting to get real annoying.”

“I’m not flirting Violet! I’m just doing a true act of kindness, unlike what you’re doing! Jesus, no wonder you don’t have a girlfriend.” That earned him a hard smack on the arm. He screamed and recoiled back, pouting at her while rubbing his arm. She laughed, sticking her tongue out at him. She turned her attention back to the woman, who was staring at them with a raised brow.

“So,” Vi started, “Do you have a name?”

“Tell me your names first, mortals.”

“What! We’re not mortals!”

Violet glanced at Louis, “Dude, are you saying you’re dead?”

“No, but I will be in a minute!”

Violet groaned, “Ignore him, he’s just being a complete dumbass.”

The woman shook her head, “No no, it’s quite alright. I would understand why living souls like yourselves would be frightened to meet someone like myself.”

“Are you crazy? Meeting you has been both amazing and terrifying! Cuz you know, we’re kinda talking to something that isn’t living.” Violet facepalmed, while Louis just smiled innocently like he hadn’t even said anything.

“That is one of the nicest things anyone has ever said to me..” The girl stayed silent for a moment, “Oh, and to answer your question-”

“Hold on a minute!” Louis interrupted, “We haven’t introduced ourselves!”

“No need to do so, I already know your names.”

Violet tilted her head, shocked how she knows their names unlike Louis who looks like he’s about to have a panic attack any second. “You do?”

“I’ve been watching you two ever since you step foot in this.. quite lovely home. Please don’t look at it the creepy way, I’ve just been incredibly lonely and you two seem so interesting!”

Louis and Violet gave each other a look, before looking back at her, “Okay.. well then, what's your name?”

“My name? I go by Clementine, but you may call me Clem as a nickname.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello everyone! sorry for posting this so late, but here’s chapter three!
> 
> i’d like to thank, once again, all my lovely discord friends who helped me write this chapter. ily!!!
> 
> also super sorry if this chapter seems wonky in places, i’m traveling right now and i edited this on my phone so ahahhaha
> 
> anyways, hope y’all enjoyed the chapter!


	4. the pains of the past

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the truth is revealed about clem’s past, and lou and vi must leave their new friend behind

_The heels to her boots clanked against the concrete sidewalk, the moon high up in the sky. The woman kept glancing behind her, making sure the terrifying man wasn’t following her. He wasn’t behind her, making the girl slowed down her pace. She shivered in the cold night, wrapping her light scarf around her._

_A splash of a puddle made her snap her head down, seeing she had stepped in a nasty puddle of dirty water. She groaned to herself, shaking bits of mud off her boots before continuing her walk._

_A house came into her view, one that was currently on the market for buying. The woman paused to look at it, seeing it looked to be newly built. The front doors looked newly installed, the moon shining down on the glossy wood. The windows were crystal clear, but even in the dark, you couldn’t see the inside of the house._

_Out of the corner of her eye, the girl saw someone turn the corner of the sidewalk. She fully turned her head, seeing what she was previously running away from. The man. She gasped, turning and running to the front door of the house. She knew no one would be there to help her, but it would at least be a good place to stay just to get away from the mysterious person following her._

_She slammed the front door closed once inside. Her breathing was heavy, her back against the door. Her purple skirt was muddy and a little torn, her white top muddy as well, but she didn’t care. The house smelled clean, the nice smell of untouched wood circling around the entire foyer._

_The sound of footsteps on the porch outside made her freeze in place, realizing the man had followed her up to the house. She scanned the foyer of the home, not seeing much a hiding place anywhere. The banging on the front door didn’t help her think either._

_The girl internally groaned, speeding up the stairs to try and find a bedroom hide in. Her heels colliding into the floor echoed throughout the entire house._

_“Oh, could you be any louder?!” She quietly hissed to herself, glancing down at her feet. She heard footsteps ascend the staircase, her acting quickly and entering a random room. It was thankfully a bedroom, the bed sheets neatly tucked in and all elegant, even in the darkness. The curtains were drawn, preventing the moonlight from entering into the room. The woman slipped her boots off, so they wouldn’t draw anymore noise and get her killed. Even though he was so far down the hall, the man’s boots slamming down were like drums banging right next to the girl’s ear._

_She darted her eyes across the room, trying to spot any type of hiding spot. The closet in the far corner was her best bet. Though it was such an obvious hiding spot._

_It was a risk she was willing to take._

_She slid her body through the doors of the closet, quietly closing them behind her. She left a tiny crack through the doors though, one that wasn’t noticeable, but one large enough where she could still see what was going on in the room. The sight of the bedroom door creaking open sent cold, bone chilling shivers down her spine, a black silhouette sliding into view and entering the bedroom._

_She held her breath, staying as quiet as possible. The silhouette stepped into the slit of moonlight in the room, revealing what the stranger looked like. His facial features couldn’t be made out, but the woman knew it was the man who was previously chasing her. All she could make out was his scruffy, messy hair that looked like it hadn’t been brushed in weeks, hell it hadn’t looked washed in weeks. The movement of his head stopped her from her staring, scooting closer into the closet. Her breathing was rapid, but she was smart to not be too loud._

_She could overhear a faint grumble from inside the closet, angry footsteps following afterward. She raised a brow, peeking in the crack to see the man exiting the room. Her heartbeat went back to normal. She was safe._

_She nudged the closet doors open, making sure the coast was clear before stepping out. She made sure the doors didn’t make any creaking noises that could alert the man of her whereabouts. She breathed a sigh of relief._

_Suddenly there was pain in her chest. Unbearable pain. It was like she just collided into a bush entirely made out of thorns, but it was much worse. She glanced down to see what is making her experience such dear pain, and what she saw made her stop breathing. Literally._

_A knife was pierced right into her chest, sticking out at a disgustingly crooked angle._

_She choked out a cry, feeling her body tumble down to the floor. Her vision became blurry, but no matter what she still tried to prevent herself from bleeding any more. She was unsuccessful, losing more blood every second she even tried to do something to help herself. All she could make out was the dark oak floors she laid on and the black figure behind her, watching her suffer--_

“Wait wait wait, woah woah woah.” Louis cuts her off, interrupting the story, “So this guy just comes up behind you and.. stabs you??”

“Yes.”

“And you didn’t even see what the guy even looked like??”

“Unfortunately, no,” Clementine kept her head down, “The bedroom was far too dark for me to see anything.”

“Now that’s bullshit, now we can’t catch this person! They committed murder for god sake!”

“Louis, I have a strong feeling that this murderer is dead,” Violet spoke up, “It did happen in 1850. You know that, right?”

Louis’ eyebrows furrowed, but immediately shot back up, “Ooh! Yeah, that does make a lot more sense.”

Violet rolled her eyes, turning back to Clem, “So, you’ve just been stuck here this entire time?”

“For the most part, yes. I have tried leaving the house, but no matter what I do or what I try I always find myself back where I had previously been.”

Violet bit her nail, deep in thought. She recalled the time their friend Mitch’s little brother, Willy, started ranting one time at a sleepover how ghosts usually haunted the area they died at. It seemed to be a true fact, since Clementine said she had never left the house. Who knew Willy and his damn supernatural obsession would be helpful at a time like this.

Violet pulled out her phone, seeing the time read exactly four in the morning. Other notifications displayed below, some text messages from both friends and family. But those weren’t important now.

A little gasp sounded from beside Violet, jumping at the sight of Clem looking closely over her shoulder. Her gaze seemed to be fixated on Vi’s phone.

“What. Is. That??” Her voice was anxious with curiosity and excitement.

“It’s.. a phone.” Violet explained, “You use it to communicate with people and entertainment.”

“My phone’s so boring,” Louis chimes in, “Mine doesn’t have the cool features like Vi’s does.”

“Louis, you literally have the newest iPhone that’s out right now.”

“So?? Yours is still better.” Violet rolled her eyes.

Clementine takes the phone out of Violet’s hands, eyeing it up and down. From her being so transparent, it looked like Violet’s phone was floating in mid-air. Clem’s eyes were wide with wonder, flipping the phone around to get a look at all the sides. The phone case was cracked on the back, and the once screen protector has been shattered so much it doesn’t even look like there’s one there.

“You like it?” Violet asked, not noticing the smile forming on her face.

“Oh yes! It’s so.. unique! How does it work?”

“You just press buttons until you want it to do what you want,” Violet told her, “It’s not super complicated, but it takes time getting used to.”

Clem handed the phone back, her once excited expression becoming neutral. Her expression had a sad tone to it, like she’s wishing for something she knew wouldn’t come true. She paced around the room, her purple gown flapping behind her as she glided in mid-air. Louis stood by Violet’s side, glancing a look at her. He leaned over and whispered in her ear, “We have school in a couple hours.”

Violet turns to face him. “Seriously? Out of all the times you could’ve reminded me you tell me now?”

“What? I don’t want to be late to History, thank you very much. I’ll never hear the end of it from Mr. Everett.”

“Mr. Everett?”

The teens look to see Clementine had stopped pacing, looking at them with the same curious face like when she first saw Vi’s phone.

“Yeah, Mr. Everett,” Violet says, “He’s our history teacher.”

“Everett..” Clem looked deep in thought, “He sounds like a very nice gentleman.”

Louis holds a laugh. Violet whacks his arm, “Yeah, he’s a nice teacher. His pop quizzes suck though.”

“Pop quiz? What are those?”

“You don’t wanna know,” Louis said, “You especially don’t wanna know Mr. Walter’s math quizzes. Those can go to hell and burn there.”

Clem just nods, understanding. A gleam of light shines into the room, the trio looking over and seeing the window glimmer with light, cueing the sun was beginning to rise. Louis and Violet looked at each other, then turn to face Clem. She was looking at them, already knowing what they were going to say.

“We.. we can’t stay here forever,” Violet began, “You understand that, right?”

“Oh, of course. Go, I won’t stop you.”

“Oh wow, that was easy.” Louis grinned. Violet narrowed her eyes at him.

“Sorry! Lemme reword that-”

“Louis, just shut your fucking mouth and get your bag.”

“Yes ma’am!” He gives Violet a salute, running off to go find his backpack. Violet groans.

“He’s an interesting one.” Clementine blurts out after Louis left.

“He’s annoying,” Violet adds, “But he’s my best friend, and if I’m being honest I’ll do anything for him.”

“Awh! You’ll do anything for me?!”

“Shut up Lou! Go get your backpack!” His laughter rang through the house. Vi sighed, rubbing her forehead, “You see what I mean?”

Clem snickers, “Does he tend to joke around like a clown often?”

“Oh yeah, everyday at school,” Violet explains, “At my locker, in the cafeteria, in our classes we have together. But personally I’m used to it.”

“He seems like he cares about others quite much, I've never seen anyone else like him before.”

“That’s Louis for ya, always bugging everyone without reason but still loves you no matter what.”

Clem looked around the room, “It’s nice though, having someone to talk to, whether they are annoying or not. This house can get awfully lonely and I just.. would very much love to go out and adventure the world.”

“But you can’t,” Violet said, sadness floating around in her voice.

“I can’t,” Clem looks down to the glossy floors, swirling her foot around, “This house has a grip on me that holds me back from leaving. I’d give anything to break free from that awful grip and go out and see the Earth.”

“I’m.. sorry,” Violet said, “I can’t imagine what it’s like to be trapped somewhere for so long.”

“No no, it’s quite alright. I’ve gotten used to the torn, ancient wallpapers.” Clem says with a laugh. Violet can’t help but laugh along with her. Their laughter comes to a halt when Louis comes strolling back into the room, his backpack strapped onto his shoulders.

“You guys seem like you had fun without me,” Louis sighed, “Damn, how dare you have fun without me.”

Violet rolled her eyes, playfully jabbing her elbow into his chest, “You didn’t miss anything huge, stupid.”

“Oh thank god, I don’t want another situation where you talk about some inside joke and I don’t understand it.”

“They’re called inside jokes for a reason, dumbass. If you weren’t there you wouldn’t understand it.”

“Wh- well yeah! I know that!”

“Do you though?” Violet grins.

Louis’ mouth hung open. Violet snorted.

“Well, would you look at the time,” Louis looks down at his wrist, where no watch laid, “If we don’t leave now we’re gonna be late to History, and we don’t wanna be late to History.”

“Yeah yeah, hold on asshole.” Louis laughed, shooting Clem a heartwarming goodbye before heading out towards the foyer. Violet turned to Clem once he was gone, “It was nice meeting you, really.”

“It was lovely meeting you too, Violet. I.. do hope we’ll see other again. Someday.”

“Yeah,” Violet smiles, “Me too.”

“So.. you’ll return someday?”

“If Louis isn’t a pain in the ass and I’m free, then yeah. I’d love to come back.” The smile on Clem’s face made Violet smile back.

A crash from the foyer made the two jump, whipping their heads around.

“Louis?!” Violet sped out of the room, running as fast as she could down to the foyer. She could feel Clementine speeding closely behind her. They stop at the door frame, seeing Louis standing in the middle of the foyer, a broken vase at his feet.

“Dude, what the fuck?!”

“Sorry! I didn’t wanna yell, so I did the next best thing!”

Violet crosses her arms, “Breaking a vase? Seriously?”

“Well yeah, what else would I do?”

Clem strolled over, looking down at the pile of blue glass, “At least it wasn’t my favorite vase.”

“Oh shit, I’m glad I didn’t break that. I don’t know what you’d do if I broke your favorite vase.”

“I’m just playing with you, this was my favorite vase.”

The horror on Louis’ face made both the girls burst into laughter. Louis just shook his head, looking away, “Alright alright, you got me.”

“Come on, we better leave before we get a ten minute rant from Mr. Everett.”

“Alright! Jeez,” Louis dramatically strolled past the girls, making his way to the front doors.

“Thank you,” Violet says to Clementine, “For, you know, not killing us.”

“I still cannot believe you two thought I was going to kill you.”

“I mean, this is our first time seeing a ghost.” Clem laughs at that.

“You’re welcome, though,” Clem smiles, “For not killing you.”

“Violet! Are you coming or am I leaving you here with your new ghost girlfriend?!”

“I’m coming! Jesus! And she’s not my girlfriend!!” Violet glares at Louis, who sticks his tongue at her in return. Clem raises a brow, deciding it would be best to stay silent.

“I’m going to miss your constant bickering.” Violet glances at Clem, who’s smile is now replaced with a frown.

“Hey,” Violet begins, “I promise, we’ll be back.”

“You promise?”

“I promise.”

Clementine grins, “I’ll keep your word.”

“Ha, yeah,” Violet glanced at the floor, “I guess.. this is goodbye.”

“Yes, I think it is.”

“I’m not really good with goodbyes,” Violet lightly laughs, Clem chuckling with her.

“So, um, I’ll see you later?”

“We’ll meet again.” Clem said softly.

“Some sunny day.” Clem raised a brow, “Sorry, song lyrics.”

Clem giggles, “Oh, it’s quite alright. I didn’t know you liked listening to music.”

“It calms me down, helps me through a lot.”

“I’m glad.” God, how does Clem smile so much?

“Violet! I’m deadass about to leave you here!”

“I’m coming asshole! Give me ten seconds!”

“Alright, I’m counting down!” Violet rolls her eyes.

Clementine laughs, nudging Violet closer to the doors, “Go on, Louis is waiting.”

“Alright, alright,” Violet chuckles, “See you later.”

“Stay safe out there, please.”

“What? Why?”

“Just do it.” Her tone became very serious, sending goosebumps down Violet’s arms.

“Okay okay, we’ll be careful.” Clem’s facial features relaxed.

“Good, now go on.”

Violet waved goodbye, rushing to the front doors. She took a last glance at Clem, who was giving her a sweet smile. It was so different from the first smile Violet saw on her face, so chilling and sinister. Violet shut the door behind her once she was outside. The sunlight shone down on her, her skin enjoying the warmth. Louis was standing impatiently at the bottom of the steps, shifting his feet back and forth.

“Finally! I thought you would never come out,” Louis grinned, but frowned once he saw Violet’s face, “Hey, you okay?”

“She told me for us to stay safe,”

“Oh, okay. And? What’s wrong with that?”

“Her tone drastically changed Lou, I’ve never heard her talk like that.”

“She’s just being concerned for us Vi! Calm down!”

“Yeah, I guess..”

“Now come on,” He draped an arm around her shoulders, “Let’s head to school and learn!”

“That sounded so sarcastic.”

“It was sarcastic.” Violet snorted. The autumn leaves flew past their feet as they walked, covering the crumbling sidewalk and making a crunch when the teens stepped on them. They chatted while they walked in the direction of their high school, explaining the events that had just happened to them.

Ghosts really did exist. And they had just met one.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey y’all!! here’s chapter four!!
> 
> i’m so sorry that this is posted so late, i worked hard ok
> 
> anyways, i hope y’all had a merry merry christmas!! i hope it was amazing uwu
> 
> be prepared for chapter five! i have things planned hehe


	5. research squad

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> violet and louis spend some time outside of the haunted house and use it to research about the incident.

“Violet? Are you even listening to me?”

Violet slowly looked up from her phone, seeing Louis giving her a look.

“What did you say?”

Louis groaned, leaning back in his booth, “I was asking if we’re going back to the house.”

Violet rolled her eyes, taking a sip of her vanilla milkshake, “I dunno, maybe.”

“Vi, you literally made a promise to our dear friend Clementine that you would come back someday,” Louis reminded her, “You know you can’t break promises.”

“I know.. It’s just,” Violet sighed deeply, “Do I really wanna go back? It seems like a waste of time.”

Louis’ eyes widen, slamming his hand down onto the table, “Violet. Look at me.” She does. “If you’re gonna make a promise with anyone, alive or dead, you gotta make sure you’re gonna keep that promise.”

“But you never do that with your promises-”

“Shh Vi,” He holds up a finger to silence her, “We don’t speak about what I do, this conversation isn’t about me.”

Violet once again rolled her eyes, stabbing the whipped cream on top of her milkshake with her straw. It had been four days since the two of them left the old, creepy, haunted house and their friend Clem, and Violet couldn’t stop thinking about it. She wanted to go back, but she didn’t feel ready. She wanted to learn more about the tragedy that had happened to Clem that made her life come to an end, she wanted to know everything she could about the situation.

“Lou?”

“Hm?”

“Are you busy tonight?”

Louis stares at her, “Uhh.. no?”

“Good,” Violet smirked, “We’re going to the library tonight.”

——

Three hours. They’ve been stuck in the library for a straight three hours. And they’ve hardly found anything useful.

The two were currently sitting in the far back of the library, a couple large stacks of books scattered around them. The sun had nearly set, and the dim lights surrounding the library had turned on and given the library somewhat of a romantic feel, like when you enter a fancy restaurant at night and the lights are nearly out but are still there.

Violet slammed shut yet another book, adding it to the stack which was nearly towering over the two of them. She groaned, rubbing her eyes, “Nothing. Again. Have you found anything Lou?”

“Nope!” Louis leaned back in his chair, “But I did find a biography about Clem and her family, but I tossed it into the pile thinking it wasn’t important.”

“You did what?!” People around them shushed Violet, but she wasn’t paying attention. She dug through the massive piles of books in hope to find the simple biography.

“Can you remember what it looked like??”

“How am I supposed to remember what it looked like? All I can remember was her and her family were on the front cover.”

Bingo. Violet picked up the book, three pairs of eyes staring at her from the cover. They were all positioned like most Victorians would do when getting their picture taken, all proper and well dressed. They weren’t smiling, which creeped Violet out. The title read _“The Tragic Incident of the Marsh Family”_. The cover wasn’t that interesting, just having the title and the single-family portrait. Once Violet opened the book, however, everything totally flipped.

Each page contained at least one or two photos, either of Clementine herself or one or both of her parents. The words were small, almost hard to read, but Violet could still make them out and read them out loud to Louis:

_“On a cold night in the month of December of the year 1850, sixteen-year-old Clementine Marsh was found dead by her parents, who was found stabbed to death by an unknown individual. The young parents thought it was best to keep the tragic incident a family secret for years. Once they died due to severe illness, police search the household and find out the truth about their daughter. Why the family kept the death a secret remains a mystery. The case too remains unsolved.”_

“Well I’ll be damned,” Louis leans over to look at the book, “What other interesting shit is included in here?”

“Not much,” Violet said, “Maybe there are more books about her in here?”

Louis was already up and looking on the shelves before Violet could finish speaking. She sighed, continuing to look through the stack of books they had already collected. She only found one more book about the incident, but it was mainly about theories for the unsolved murder. Louis came back minutes later, holding four books that not only talked about Clementine but also talked about the supernatural too.

Louis slammed the books down onto the table, “Do you think this will give us all the information that we need?”

Violet glanced at all the books, “I sure hope so.”

——

“What do you mean I can’t check out all the books?!”

“For the last time, Ms. Adlon,” The librarian plainly stated, “You are only allowed to check out three books at a time.”

Violet angrily sighed, “But I _really_ need these books!”

The librarian shook her head, removing her glasses and using her shirt to clean the lenses, “I’m sorry, but rules are rules.”

Louis was waiting for her outside. Violet tapped her foot impatiently, thinking hard. She needed _all_ the books, or else she wouldn’t get all the information she needed. She could look it all up on the internet, but the internet doesn’t always have the exact information books usually have. Violet needed to get all the books, but how? Louis couldn’t, his library card wasn’t accepted at this library.

“Now I’m going to ask you nicely one more time,” The librarian said, “Please choose the books you would like to check out and I can keep the ones you won’t check out behind here.”

_Well, only one other option left to do._

“Woah, what the hell is that?” Violet questioned quietly, pointing to the wall behind the librarian. She managed to make her turn around, looking at the bland white wall. Violet acted fast and grabbed all six books at once, shoving them into her backpack and running towards the exit.

“Wh- Ms. Adlon!”

“I need these books!” She shouted over her shoulder, using her leg to open the door. She then sped down the stairs, meeting up with Louis.

“Finally! There you- ow!” She grabbed him by the ear, dragging him down the sidewalk.

“Jesus, someone’s in a rush!”

“Just start walking you idiot!”

——

An hour had passed, and they were spending the night in their history teacher’s house, Lee Everett. They were very good friends with him since they would come from time to time and babysit his adoptive son, Alvin Junior, or AJ for short. At the moment they were doing their late-night research in the guest room since Lee forbid them to even go near his office.

“Find anything?” Violet asked, setting a book down on the bed.

“Not really, it’s all the same information in every book. It’s like they’re just repeating the same knowledge, just rewording it.”

Violet groaned, laying down on the bed. She stared up at the white ceilings, the lights from the lamps illuminating onto the ceiling. Her parents were going to be pissed when she gets home, that’s for sure. She told them she would be home around eight, and when she looked at the clock beside her it read ten thirty at night.

“Aren’t your parents gonna be pissed when you get home?”

“Yep, mhm.” Violet threw a pillow onto her face.

“Damn, can’t imagine what it's like living with your parents. They boss you around like, twenty-four seven.”

“Don’t your parents do that to you?”

“Well yeah, but yours are a lot meaner.” Violet threw the pillow at Lou, him dramatically falling off of the chair he was sitting on. She quietly snickered, going back to staring at the ceiling.

“God, you’re such an idiota.”

“Lemme guess, that's idiot in Italian?”

“Mhm.”

“You're such an Italian nerd Vi.” Violet rolled her eyes, proceeding to grab another pillow and raise it in the air. She heard Louis screech, hearing movement which must of meant he was hiding. She chuckled, lowering the pillow back down and onto her lap.

“So now what?” Louis blurted out from down below.

“What do you mean, now what?”

“I dunno,” Louis sat up, Violet now being able to see him, “What’s the plan? Are we going back to the house?”

Violet thought for a moment. If she was being honest, she _really_ wanted to go back. She didn’t know why, but it felt like something was missing in her ever since they left. She didn’t know if it was just being at the house, or if it was Clementine that made her feel.. happy. Wanted. Loved.

The door to the room creaked open, Lee popping his head in and seeing the two teens, “You two find anything?”

“We found some stuff,” Violet said, “But not enough information to fill in all the gaps.”

Lee sighed, glancing down at the watch on his wrist, “Well, I’m sure your parents won’t mind you two sleeping over?”

Louis beamed at the idea, “Oh my god, slumber party? With Violet?! My wishes are coming true.”

“You wanted to have a sleepover.. with me??”

“Well yeah! Duh!” He jumped onto the bed next to her, “You’re like, the only person who hasn’t walked away from me from saying a horrible joke.”

“I could’ve sworn I’ve done that before but okay.”

“That’s not the point Vi! The point is, is that I love having you as a friend and I’m glad we hang out so much.”

“Awh, that’s so sweet of you to say. Now get off my bed.” She pushed him to the side, successfully shoving him off of the bed. He shrieked, Violet grinning when she heard the thump noise of him hitting the wood floors. Lee chuckled at the doorway, saying his goodnights before shutting the door and leaving them be.

“Wait a minute, I don’t even have a change of clothes!”

“Louis, just wear what you have on.”

“Violet, I can’t wear fucking jeans to bed.” He hissed at her.

“Well then maybe you shouldn’t have worn jeans today.”

“Okay, that’s it, I take back everything nice I said about you.”

Violet grinned, “That is such a lie, you know that right?”

“Damnit, I hate it when you’re right.” Violet laughed, loving his annoyed side. She threw a pillow at him to see if it would get better, and it did. He caught the pillow and threw it right back at her.

“When was the last time I heard you laugh that hard?” Violet quieted down, looking at Louis who was raising a brow at her and giving her a wide grin. She huffed, turning away from him, “Shut up.”

“What? I’m just saying, the last time you laughed like that was.. shit when was it? Oh right! Probably back at the house. I dunno, I have shit memory.”

The house. _The house._

Violet picked up the only book they hadn’t read, which was an autobiography of some famous crime detective who had solved quite a bit of cases that no one else could, dealing with murder, robbery, you name it. She opened the book, scanning down at the list of cases he both solved and worked on. And there it was, the case about the Marsh family. She quickly flipped through the pages to find the chapter all about it, nearly ripping out some of the pages.

She finally managed to find the chapter, pausing to get a good look at the contents on the page. Some of it was known information, the rest being unknown to them. Louis took a seat next to Vi, who was too busy reading the book to push him off. He looked over her shoulder, looking at the text.

“Wait a minute, this dude found who the murderer was?!”

“No, he was close though,” Violet pointed out to a different paragraph, “But look, it was the night right after he was certain it was some person when he got poisoned and died.”

“He was _poisoned?_ Goddamn, people were feisty back then,” Louis squinted his eyes, reading more, “So he was gonna tell the police in the morning about the news but he couldn’t cuz he, you know, died?”

“Exactly.”

“So, the news never got released to the public? He never wrote down any notes that easily said ‘Yep, the murderer is so and so’??”

“Nope, it never got released. He did write notes though, but no one knows where they are.”

“Well shit.” Louis leaned back on the bed.

Violet bit her lip. They're too far into the investigation to give up now, but it felt like they were getting nowhere with all of the very similar information. She groaned, shoving a pillow on her face and collapsing down beside Louis. He turned at the sight of her, “Damn, I haven’t seen you this stressed over something since that one algebra test.”

“Shut up.”

“Never. Now! We need sleep, like, desperately.” He pointed to the clock beside Violet, which read it was way past midnight.

“Now that’s something I can agree on. Now get off.”

“Awh come on, you’re not gonna let your best friend-”

“Get off or else I’m pushing you off again.”

“Ahh okay! I’m getting off!” Violet smirked, feeling the weight of the bed change once he was off. She didn’t even bother getting under the covers since she would probably swim in her own sweat under there anyways. She sighed, shutting her eyes and enjoying the quiet.

Her eyes immediately opened again, “Lou?”

“Yeah?” His exhausted voice responded.

“What’s today?”

“Mm, I think it’s Friday, yeah. Why?”

Violet cracked a smile, “We’re going back. Tonight.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hehe hello
> 
> i am back with another chapter!! yay!! i had fun writing this one so i hope you enjoyed it lol


	6. running for her dear life

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> something dark and mysterious decides to stalk violet as she is walking home in the cold night

Violet never enjoyed walking home alone. True, she loved having time to herself and collecting her thoughts, but it always scared her that someone could always walk up behind her and do god knows what. The cold weather on top of that made it worse.

Louis would usually offer to give Violet a ride home, but she almost daily declines, saying she was fine walking to the trailer park she called her home.

Usually, whenever she walked home it was boring. Nothing interesting ever happened during her walk. Sure people taking a stroll with their dogs would pass by her, and she would stop to pet them, but those sorts of things weren’t considered all that interesting. Today, though, today was different.

It all started normal, the school day ending and she would take a breather outside in the school parking lot with Louis until all of the school buses all left. Then Louis would take his expensive ass car and drive back home, leaving Violet to begin her journey back to her own. 

She walked down the same route she always takes, the rustic streets near the edge of town. The tires to passing cars would scratch up against the cracked roads. They echoed throughout the air and would tend to startle her whenever they drove right past her. She passed by the community park, which to her surprise was empty. Usually, at this time, it was filled with energetic kids, their parents waiting for their kids to tire themselves out. However, that wasn’t the case here.

The swings moved back and forth to the wind. The trees around them shaking along. Violet shivered, huddling closer into her sweatshirt. _ Probably should’ve worn another layer. _

She looked over to the side. The sun was beginning to set. 

“Shit,” She muttered, quickening her pace. She was barely even halfway there, and she was already wasting time by being a slowpoke. The wind continued to blow, only making the situation worse. Stupid autumn weather.

The street lights flickered down the sidewalk. They shined a bright golden, almost looking white. The entire block looked like something out of a horror film. _ That was never a good sign. _

Violet mentally slapped herself, practically jogging down the path. If she recalled right, the trailer park wasn’t far now. She could finally get home and out of the cold, autumn weather. She could probably even watch a cheesy ass lesbian movie since tonight was one of her no homework nights and her parents weren’t coming home until late tomorrow night, so the trailer was all hers.

Scratch that. She forgot this was the night she and Lou were planning to go back to the house again, to visit Clementine. _ Fucking shit _.

She stopped at a street lamp to catch her breath, squatting down on the curb below it. Her eyes gazed up at the dangling light above her. She didn’t know why or how, but just viewing the bulb screwed into the lamp made her feel warm. She shut her eyes, letting the breeze brush past her and having the lamp illuminate on her.

The sound of an odd buzzing noise puzzled her. She cracked her eyes open and saw the lamp constantly flickering. She opened her mouth to mutter something but was cut off when the bulb let out its last spark of light before plunging the area into darkness. She let out a soft yelp. She glanced around the rest of the street and saw the other lamps were still on and lighting up the street.

“Okay, calm down Vi,” She quietly told herself, “Maybe the bulb was in there for a long time and it was at its final stage.”

She huddled closer into her sweatshirt. She pulled out her phone to see what the time was. Nearly seven. She hissed as a strong, cold breeze swept past her. Vi shoved her hands into the pockets of her sweatshirt, hoping to give them at least some warmth. To her disappointment, her hands still shook, and she could feel them going numb. She jabbed her foot into a crack in the road. Why did it have to be so goddamn freezing?

_“Hey, behind you.” _

Violet gasped. She snapped her head and looked behind her. To her confusion, however, nothing was there. She furrowed her brows, looking left and right. All her eyes fixed on was the sidewalk behind her and the tops of the buildings in town.

“What the fuck..?” She mumbled to herself. Was someone watching her?

_“Wrong direction, darling.” _

The voice was now in front of her. She flipped around to try and catch the source of the voice but found nothing. Okay, now she was freaking out. Violet stood up. She didn’t even care if she left anything behind, she was getting out of here.

The moment Violet stepped away from the street lamp, it suddenly flashed back to life. She felt like she was going crazy. Her body felt weak. And it wasn’t because of the cold.

Violet ran like her life depended on it. Which it kind of did. Every time she passed by a street lamp, it would flicker, causing her to quicken her pace. She wanted to hide somewhere, she wanted to get away from this thing that was chasing her. 

Chasing her.. something was chasing her. Exactly like-

All of a sudden she collided into the pole of a stop sign. She cursed out loud, bringing a hand up to her face. When she recoiled back, she saw faint streaks of blood on her fingertips. Vi groaned, wiping her nose with her sleeve. She lifted it in front of her to see blood soaked into the fabric.

A strong gust of wind whisked past her. Violet hugged herself tightly, cursing at herself again for not wearing enough layers. The street lamp above her twinkled. A shot of panic rose within her. She huddled close in her sweatshirt, running as fast as she could down the sidewalk.

A house came into view as Violet sped down the sidewalk. She breathed in relief. She took a glance behind her. Nothing. Her pace slowed down. She looked around and noticed the gates to what she guessed lead into the backyard.

_ The owners wouldn’t mind, would they? _

She rushed over to the gates. They stood much taller than her, looking to be decades old. Vines crept up between the bars, wrapping themselves against each other. Violet tried pushing the gates open, but of course, it wouldn’t budge. She grumbled under her breath, trying to push it open with her shoulder. Nothing.

“Oh come on, you piece of shit!” She cursed out to the gates. She glared at the metal bars in front of her. She took a couple of steps back. She dug her heel into the mud. And broke into a run, charging at the gates. 

The gates unexpectedly opened on their own, making Violet trip and collapse onto the grass. She groaned, tasting a handful of grass and dirt in her mouth. She sat up, seeing her sweatshirt coated in mud. 

“Fucking shit-sticks,” She complained, harshly wiping at the guck on her to see if it would come off. The stain just grew worse, seeping deep into her sweatshirt. Violet cursed out loud, standing up. Thank god her pants weren’t stained, otherwise she’d really be pissed.

She got a chance to check out her surroundings, without anything interrupting her. The backyard was filthy, to say the least. Mud puddles scattered across the yard, how they got there Violet didn’t know. The loveseat underneath a naked tree beside the house had gotten quite rusty, the paint beginning to chip off. An old tire swing stayed attached to a thick branch, swaying along with the breeze. 

A strong clanging noise from behind made Violet jump. She turned around and noticed that the gate had somehow been closed. She raised a brow, walking over and tugging at one of the bars connected to it. To her horror, it wouldn’t budge. She tried tugging at the gate again, harder this time. It still wouldn’t open.

“Oh come on!” She cried out, “What the hell?!”

The wind began to pick up, brown leaves scurrying past her stained shoes. She could hear her teeth chattering since it was so cold. Rubbing her arms didn’t help her either. _ How was she supposed to get home now? _

The face of a man abruptly appeared in between the bars of the gate, locking eyes with Violet’s. She screamed, not seeing the thick twig behind her and tripped on it. She glanced up, seeing the face grinning at her. An arm suddenly stuck out through the bars, a full-body filing in afterward and slipping through the gates. The man was tall, at least six feet. His black tuxedo stayed clean while his coat floated behind him. His hands rested in the pockets. 

_ “Why hello there.” _ He greeted her with a creepy grin. Violet sat petrified, not even daring to move. This.. person, or whatever the hell this man was, was speaking to her. And was creeping her the fuck out. The man removed his hands out of his pockets, fixing his coat which, to be honest, didn’t even need fixing. He raised a brow at Violet’s silence, _ “Why so quiet, dear?”_

She let out a shaky breath. Even twitching her hand at the very slightest freaked her out, thinking he’ll pounce at her at any moment.

_“I’m not going to hurt you,” _ He reassured her, _ “Not yet at least.” _

She gulped, pulling out her brave face. “Wh- who are you? That’s all I wanna know.”

The man’s grin widened, making Violet quietly cringe, _ “Now that, that is not important. But I am curious..” _ He glided closer to her, _ “What is your name, dearie?” _

Okay, she wasn’t scared anymore. In fact, she was pissed. She stood up, her head only reaching up towards the man’s chest.  
  
“No.” She hissed, “I asked you a question, and you’re gonna answer it. Bitch.”

Unexpectedly, he was up close in her face, their noses nearly touching. She could feel the cold, unwelcoming aura shed off onto her, causing her to shiver. She stood there, paralyzed in fear.

_“What did you call me?” _

“I- nothing.”

He pressed his lips together, unsatisfied with her answer. He then straightened his back, taking a step forward. The hairs on her arms rose up as Violet felt something unnatural and threatening pass through her. Her blood felt as if it had been frozen. The sudden sensation faded shortly, and the man stood behind her.

_“You know, the sight of young ones like you scared to death brightens my day.” _ He spoke, arms folded behind his back. Violet turned to look at him, shaking at the sight of him staring at her. _ “Humans your age deserve it.” _

“Excuse me?”

_ “You heard me correct,” He suddenly scrunched up his nose. “Children absolutely disgust me. Especially your age.” _

Violet opened her mouth to complain, but was hushed.

_ “You see, I’m not the monster here. True, I may look like one to everyone’s point of view, but really, the true monster is you. You and.. all the others who older men and women care for very dearly.” _

“Not everyone cares for their kid.” Violet murmured, glancing down at her filthy shoes.

_ “Let me ask you a question. Would anyone notice you have gone missing?” _

Violet froze. She lifted her head up to see him glancing at her with his creepiest smile yet. “Uh, yeah. People would notice I’ve suddenly disappeared.”

His smile widened, _ “Good. That makes the entire experience even better.” _

“Alright, listen here you piece of shit.” The man’s smile faded, blinking at her. “You listen and you listen good. If you try _ anything _on me lemme just tell you, you’re gonna regret it later.”

He raised a brow, _ “Bold talk coming from a girl who is quite defenseless right now.” _

“I- I’m not defenseless!” She picked up a small twig beside her, aiming it at him. “I have.. this twig and I’m not afraid to use it!”

The man whisked closer to her. Violet felt goosebumps rise on her arms. 

_ “What I’m going to do to you, it’s for the best. It’s to teach not only you but every other.. goddamn adolescent a lesson.” _

A lesson? What lesson?

_ “Now don’t be afraid sweetie,” _ He slowly lifted up his arm, _ “I’ll make this quick.” _

Violet screeched, recoiling back. “Get away from me you.. you fucking creep!”

She didn’t even think twice before rushing past him. She sped up the stairs to the porch of the house, slamming the door open and racing inside.

Violet didn’t bother looking back. She just kept running and running, until she felt she was far away. She let out a scratchy breath, leaning against a wall. She took the chance to look at her surroundings. They were oddly familiar to her, having vintage wallpaper that was fading away at a fast pace. She raised a brow, wondering why the house looked so familiar.

Wait a damn minute. This was _ the _house.

Violet glanced around, seeing if Clementine was nearby, but of course, found nothing but darkness. Down the hall, however, a dark shadowy figure breezed by. Violet’s heart began to beat faster. She felt uneasy.

She charged down the hallway, using up all her strength her legs had to get away. The hall around her suddenly became freezing, forcing her to snap her hands up and cling onto her sweatshirt. She huffed out a breath, being able to see it because it was so cold. She began backing up further down the hall, faintly seeing a coat drifting by. 

Something without warning gripped onto her arm. Right as the man turned the corner, Violet was quickly dragged aside into a dark corner. She yelped, but was silenced by an icy, numbing force clamping over her mouth. Another freezing force slid around her chest, locking her in place. 

“Shh.” A voice softly whispered behind her, “It’s just me. Just be quiet, alright?”

Violet knew that voice. She knew that voice anywhere.

_It was the voice of Clementine. _

The man from before suddenly appeared right in front of them, not seeming to notice them. Violet shrieked. Clem’s grip on her tightened. The man slowly moved his eyes around, still not noticing the two. Giving up, he gave out a huff, gliding away down the hall and out of sight. Once she knew he was away from them, Clem released her grip on Violet. 

Violet turned around to look at Clem. She’d never been so happy in her life. Clem waved her hand, gesturing Violet to follow her. The two sped down the hallway. They reached an old study, taking the chance to rest in there.

“You- you have no idea how happy I am to see you.” Violet managed to muster out in between breaths. Clem gave her a small smile, turning towards the door, which was shut.

“He didn’t follow us, right?”

“No, no I don’t think he did.” Violet huffed, leaning against the desk in the corner. “Who.. who was that anyway?”

“You shouldn’t have seen him.” Clem stayed put, staring at the door. “He shouldn’t have seen _ you _.”

“Why? What’s so bad about him?”

“What’s so bad about him?” Clem turned around, her face growing serious, “Violet. You shouldn’t be here. Why are you even here to begin with?”

“I was walking home,” Violet told her, “But then I ran into him and ended up here trying to get away from him.”

Clem bit her nail, deep in thought. Moments later she sighed, “Well.. you cannot leave now. He’s still around, and that’s never a good sign. For the both of us.”

“Ah, well that’s nice.” Violet said sarcastically.

“Where is Louis? He isn’t with you.”

“Louis? He’s uh, home. I think.”

Clem raised a brow, “Strange. When I would see him he’d be beside you.”

“Yeah, Louis can get attached to people easily.”

“I’ve noticed,” Clem frowned, “I have also noticed you.. haven’t yelled.”

“What?”

“You haven’t yelled at me, it’s unusual for someone like yourself.”

Violet furrowed her brows. “Why would I yell at you?”

“Oh, you know..” Clem raised a finger and pointed to her glossy, transparent skin. Her colored skin.

_ She’s referring to slavery, you dumbass. _

“Oh. _ Oh. _” Violet relaxed a bit. “Yeah, no. I would never yell at you unless necessary.”

Clem gave her a warm smile, “I’m glad.”

Violet sat on top of the desk. It wobbled to her weight, but was balanced enough to keep her atop. She took a chance to glance around the room while Clem was busy gliding around, doing something else to occupy herself. The room itself was actually in good condition, only a shelf or two really needing attention. The curtains shut in front of the window floated. The window must be cracked.

“So..” Violet began, “Now what?”

“What do you mean?”

“Um, well, I need to get home.”

“You can’t.” Clem deadpanned.

“Yeah, yeah I know,” Violet pinched the bridge of her nose, “Is- is there anyway I can get out of here? Or am I stuck here for the night?”

“I’m afraid to say you may be stuck here for the night, or at least until the sun begins to rise.”

_ Fucking fantastic. _

“Great, great.” Violet tapped her nails against the wood of the desk. 

“Now what?”

“We wait.”

The two sat in silence for a while. Violet decided to break it up, “So who was that guy?”

“The man?”

“Yeah. Who is he?”

Clem glances at the floor, “He’s not important.”

“He must be important if you wanted me to avoid him so badly,” Violet says.

Clem sighs. She was right. 

“He goes by Dominic. Dominic Van Doren. A wealthy man, though very cruel. He had a child once, but she died. Took all of his anger out on his servants.”

“Huh. What an asshole.”

Clem softly chuckled, “You could say that.”

“So how come you know this guy so much?”

Clem twitched in her spot. The still air was finally filled with sound as she spoke up in a hushed voice.

“He is the one who killed me.”

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey everyone! i have finally finished chapter six!
> 
> i hope to start the next chapter soon, but it might be delayed due to me wanting to finish other works first
> 
> this honestly took awhile to write so i really hope you enjoy it!


	7. wow, i’m shooketh

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> everything starts to come together as truths are being revealed

“How is your nose doing?”

Violet cringed when she felt the cold touch of Clementine’s hand graze over her pale skin, “A little better. Still hurts like hell though.”

“I still cannot believe you crashed into… a pole.”

“A stop sign,” Violet chuckled as the moment repeated in her head, “I collided into a stop sign.”

“A stop sign?”

“Yeah. It’s a sign at the side of the road that’s a bright red. It’s meant for people to not die.”

Clementine nods, only slightly understanding. She glances down at her feet and sees a stash of bloody fabrics Violet used to help sort out her nose. They were now hiding out in the kitchen, and to be honest, it was probably the scariest room of the house. The cabinets were nearly torn down, the wallpaper had peeled off the walls a long time ago, and cracks grew through the countertops like streams of a river. Violet was cropped up on the only stable chair in the room, Clementine floating beside her.

“So,” Violet began, hoping to strike a conversation, “Any signs of that Dominic guy?”

  
  
“No, I think we’re okay now.”

Violet stretched out her legs, feeling sore, “Good. I could use a good nap right now.”

“You’re more than welcome to use one of the old bedrooms to rest,” She suggested, “I can make sure no one disturbs you.”

“Thanks, but no thanks. As much as I want the rest, I’d rather sleep somewhere where rich ass demons can’t possess me.”

Clementine chuckled to that, not removing her gaze from the blonde. She didn’t know why, but she liked her. She was different, not like any of the other teenagers she had met before. She was kind, confident, but could also tell you off if you were bothering them. But she was also fragile, she was still human. Still alive.

Something worth protecting.

“You look like you’re dying to ask me something.” Violet suddenly spoke, noticing Clem’s tenseness and the fidgeting of her thumbs.

“Me? Oh, not really. It’s not that important of a question.”

Violet swayed her dangled legs back and forth, curiosity rising within her, “C’mon, you can tell me. You trust me, right?”

_ Trust. _

Does she trust her? Clementine thought deep into that question. Trust was a big thing, a big responsibility. Something you couldn’t just hand over to someone. You had to work hard to earn somebody’s trust. And apparently, it looked like she had already won the blonde’s trust, but has the blonde won her own?

“Yes,” Clementine finally spoke, confident in her answer, “I do.”

Violet smiled, the kind of smile that showed she was pleased with her answer, “I’m glad.”

“So,” The brunette stumbled with her words, “I wanted to talk. About… Louis.”

Violet blinked. “Louis? What’s wrong with Louis?”

“Oh nothing! Nothing’s wrong with him.” She drew circles on the floor with the tip of her foot, “It’s just…”

“Just?”

  
  
“His skin. His skin is different than yours.” Clementine pointed out.

Violet furrowed her brows, becoming confused by her words, “Yeah, it is.”

“But you still.. are around each other.” She continued.

“We do-? Okay, where is this conversation going?”

“I’m just curious, that’s all.”

Violet thought for a moment. What the hell did she mean by that? Obviously Louis was a different skin color than her, but she never really judged the fact. Hell, she never really questioned anyone’s skin color. She didn’t see it as such an important feature, she only really cared about the person’s personality and attitude. 

Then she thought deeper. Clementine _ did _ live during a time where skin color was more of a big deal. So maybe she wasn’t used to seeing colored people hang around people like Violet, people who had much lighter skin. She remembered the history lessons she would be forced to sit through for hours talking about slavery, discrimination, all of it. It personally made the blonde girl sick, hearing what people like herself did to those who the only difference they had was their skin color.

The blonde’s mouth opened to say something when she was interrupted by a door slamming outside. Instead, she let out a soft yelp. She glanced over at Clementine, who wore the same expression as her. Worry glossed over the eyes of the pale one as she looked at the door to the kitchen. The only way out.

Suddenly it opened, revealing a panting Louis. He was wearing a very expensive looking robe as his hands desperately clutched the sleeves of it. He looked to be freezing. Especially since he was wearing slides with no kind of socks on his feet. His eyes drifted over to the two girls, his shoulders relaxing at the sight of them. 

“_There _ you are!” He cried, storming over to Violet and gently whacking her arm, “You weren’t answering any of my texts and I got worried!”

  
  
Violet pursed her lips, slapping him back. “My phone is dead, you asshole. How am I supposed to communicate with you when my phone is dead?”

  
  
“Charge it, for fuck sake!”

“I don’t have a charger!”

“Wow...” Clementine breathed from the side, causing the teens to look over at her, “You can yell at each other too? That’s… wow.”

Louis raised a brow at her curiosity, “Uhh, what?”

“Get over here Lou.” Violet grumbled, snapping her hand up and gripping the boy’s ear. She then dragged him over to the far corner of the kitchen, ignoring his brief sounds of pain. She brought her voice down to a whisper so that only Louis could hear her, “Lou, this might sound a little weird and shocking, but I think Clem was a slave.”

The freckled boy blinked. “Yeah, that does sound a little weird and shocking.”

Violet rolled her eyes, “I’m serious! Before you came storming in, she mentioned how you have different skin than me yet we still hang out together.”

“Really? Huh, that does sound like something someone would ask about who’s never really had freedom before.”

“Exactly!” She whisper yelled, “I just… don’t want to mention it in case it brings back bad memories.”

“Oh, it’s alright. It won’t bring back bad memories.”

The two teens jumped at the sound of Clementine’s voice right beside them. They turned their heads over to see the girl in fact standing right beside them, hands tucked behind her back, “I won’t mind if you ask a couple of questions.” She said with a smile.

“Well, that makes it easier!” Louis grinned. Violet groaned, pinching the bridge of her nose. Louis swatted the blonde’s arm for her reaction, turning back to their ghost friend, “I’m just gonna get straight to the point. Were you a slave?”

Clementine pursed her lips, taking a deep breath before she spoke. “Yes. I was a slave.”

“Really?” Violet gazed at the girl, looking up and down at her. She wasn’t wearing your typical slave outfit. In fact, the brunette’s outfit was a lot nicer for a slave, “So… slaves actually had nice clothes?”

“Oh no, I stole these.”

The two teens stared at the girl, mouths hanging open. They expected some odd answer, obviously, but that? That shocked them.

“You stole those??” Louis asked after a few moments of dead silence. Clementine nodded, swaying back and forth awkwardly. Violet stayed silent, speechless. She never expected someone like Clem to go out and steal something. 

“My owner never gave me such nice clothes. So… I stole from his daughter.”

Violet raised a brow, “And what did she think about you stealing her clothes?”

“Oh, she didn’t say anything.” Clementine said simply.

“What? Why not?”

“Because she was dead at the time.”

Louis’ eyes widened. He lunged forward and gripped onto one of Violet’s arms. Violet felt her mouth drop farther. Clementine… stole from her master’s daughter… who was dead??

“And… how did your owner feel about that?” Violet quietly questioned.

“He wasn’t very pleased. He chased me around the neighborhood until I got cornered.”

Louis puffed out a breath, “You got punished for it, right? What was the punishment?”

Clementine’s smile dropped. A frown was instead placed onto her face. Louis shifted uncomfortably in his spot. Did he say the wrong thing? Was she offended? Before Louis could speak up and apologize, the girl was already answering his question.

“Death. My punishment was death.”

Violet froze. It hit her. Clementine died because someone was chasing her, because she got trapped in this house. But now everything made sense. Dominic owned her. She stole from his daughter, he got severely angry, and chased her around the neighborhood until he had trapped her in this house. And then he killed her. That was her punishment. Violet was earlier being followed by Clementine’s owner and killer. She couldn’t handle it. It was too much for her. Her vision got blurry as she felt herself slowly collide onto the floor before everything went black.

The next thing Violet feels is a strong grip on her shoulders, gently shaking her. She felt her eyes peel open as she caught sight of a very, very worried Louis towering over her. He sighed in relief at the sight of Violet waking up, removing his grip from her shoulders as he let her sit up. Violet rubbed her head as she looked around. There was no Clementine. She wasn’t in the kitchen anymore. In fact, she wasn’t in the house anymore. She was laying down on the bed of one of Louis’ guestrooms. How the hell did they make it all the way to Louis’ house?

“What happened…?” Violet asked, her throat sounding sore.

“You suddenly fainted,” Louis told her, sitting at the edge of the bed, “Clem said to get you away from the house immediately, so that’s what I did. I called my mom to pick us up and bam! Now we’re here.”

Violet rubbed circles along her forehead, groaning softly as she felt a headache coming in, “I fainted?”

“Yes ma’am! It was weird, to be honest. One minute you were totally fine, then the next minute you’re on the floor!”

Violet ran a hand through her hair. She then remembered it. All the thoughts came back into her head, this time not passing out though. She still couldn’t believe it. All the pieces were coming together. It made sense. 

“Violet?” Louis asked, noticing her silence, “You good?”

Violet blinked, snapping out of her thoughts. “Yeah. I’m okay.”

“Your skin looks paler than usual… you know what? You look like you need a break. From all this ghost shit.”

“Does it really look like I do?”

Louis stared at her with pursed lips, noting her exhausted voice, the eye bags drooping under her lids, her messy hair, all of it. And don’t forget about the odor. Violet took it as a yes Vi, you need to take a break from all of it. Hell, she wanted to. As much as she enjoyed spending time with Clementine, she needed one. Desperately. 

Violet eventually sighed, breaking the silence, “Okay, I get it. I need a break.”

Louis grinned to the sound of her agreeing, “Good! Because we’re going to spend some good teenage time tomorrow.”

She blinked, “What? We are?”

“Yep!” He said cheerfully, “Brody and Sophie wanted to catch up on stuff so we’re going shopping at the local mall. Brody’s idea, obviously.”

Violet groaned to the idea of them going shopping, shoving her face into a pillow, “She knows I don’t like shopping!”

“Oh come on Vi! It’ll be fun!” Louis chimed, “Besides, you’ll get to wear something besides that stinky old sweatshirt.”

Violet perked up, getting into a sitting position, “Hey! It doesn’t smell!”

“Yes it does! It’s disgusting!”

Violet rolled her eyes, plopping back down onto the sheets of the bed. Her eyes caught sight of the white ceilings above them. Maybe the whole shopping trip might not be a bad idea. Maybe it’ll take her mind off of everything. Maybe she’ll finally be a normal teenager for once this entire year.

“Soo?”

Violet sighed before speaking up, “Alright. I’ll go.”

“Now that’s the spirit!” He paused to sniff the air for a moment, “But first… you need a shower.”

“I do not!”

“Yes you do! You literally smell like cooked eggs left out overnight.”

Violet scrunched her nose, her nose tingling as if the certain smell entered her nostrils. “You’re disgusting.”

“Just take a goddamn shower.”

“Fine! Jesus,” Violet slipped out of the bed, scooping up a towel from the dresser beside her before slipping into the bathroom.

Minutes later she had finished showering, coming back out with her hair tied up in a messy bun as she wore one of Louis’ mother’s robes. Louis was still in the room, typing aggressively on his phone from the bed. 

“You sure your mom is okay with me wearing one of her robes?” The blonde asked as she stepped into the bedroom. She shivered as her bare feet touched the cold, tiled floors.

“Oh yeah, she’s totally fine with it.” Louis said, his eyes not gazing up to look at her. Violet stared at him, swiftly moving and whacking the phone out of his hands. Louis jumped slightly as the sudden move, shifting his head over to gawk at her, “Hey! What was that for?”

“What the hell are you doing?”

“I’m doing research, that’s what,” He told her, picking up the phone again, “For science.”

“For science?” Violet crossed her arms.

“I’m looking up murderers.” He simply said.

Violet sat down beside him, looking at the screen, “You find anything?”

“Nope. What did you say was the person’s name who murdered Clem? Daniel? David?”

“_Dominic, _ Louis. His name was Dominic.”

The freckled boy typed the name into the search bar, resulting in nothing. The two stared at each other, eyebrows furrowed in confusion. Why was nothing popping up?

“I don’t get it, why isn’t his name popping up?”

“Clem even told me his last name,” The blonde scrolled through the list of names that showed up, “That’s so weird…”

“Maybe because he was never caught, he’s not on the list?”

“Oh fuck, I think you’re right,” She stood, beginning to pace around the bedroom, “So if he was never caught, how are we supposed to get information about him?”

Louis turned the phone off, setting it aside, “Vi, let’s not worry about that right now. Let’s be normal teens for once and not worry about demons haunting us!”

Violet groaned, “They're not gonna haunt us.”

“You don’t know thaaat,” He shrieked when she whacked his arm, rubbing it furiously as the blonde laughed.

“No but really. Let’s just relax for a bit!”

Violet rolled her eyes, plopping down beside him, “Okay, fine.”

“There you go! See, isn’t relaxing fun?”

“No, this bed is too hard on my ass.”

“That’s because you’re sitting on my phone, Vi.” Her eyes widened upon hearing that, quickly scooting over to see that she was, in fact, sitting on his phone. She narrowed her eyes at the device, tossing it back to a laughing Louis. 

“Oh by the way, your mom texted you while you were in the shower,” Louis brought up, “She wants you home as soon as possible.”

“Alright, alright,” Violet got up, gathering her backpack which was at the end of the king sized bed, “I guess I’ll see you tomorrow?”

“Yep!” Louis grinned, “I’m picking you up, so you better be ready when I do.”

“Yes sir.” She shot him a goodbye before heading out of the room, journeying downstairs to head home. Louis sighed happily, not wanting to move and laying down on the bed. He shut his eyes, letting his body relax on the fluffy sheets. That’s when they shot back open.

“Holy shit she still has my mom’s robe- Violet you still have on my mom’s robe!!”

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey guys! here’s chapter seven!
> 
> ngl i had trouble writing this chapter, thus explaining why i haven’t updated in months. sorry about that!
> 
> but! i hope you enjoyed this chapter,,, tea has been spilled, but it’s only just getting started...


	8. terrors at the mall

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> violet and louis, tagged along with their friends brody and sophie, take a trip to a far away mall, thinking they were safe from any dangers lurking around. but opinions slowly begin to change when one of the four begins acting strange... very strange.

The sun wasn’t even up in the sky when Violet jolted awake, sweat dripping down her forehead as her mossy green eyes were open wide. She had hardly gotten any sleep that night, all these nightmares were giving the girl such terrible headaches. She looked over at her alarm clock to see what time it was. Exactly five in the morning. She huffed, laying back down on her mattress and glaring up at the ceiling. Looks like she wasn’t falling back asleep anytime soon.

A tuneless breeze outside her window flicked by as branches from the gigantic oak trees beside her home clanked and scraped against the glass to her window. A storm was brewing outside, making Violet groan and shove her face into her pillow, easily sniffing the strong lavender scented detergent her mother grew so fond of over the past few years. What a way to start the weekend. A fucking thunderstorm.  
  
There was no way Violet would get any sleep now. She could never sleep during weather like this. It was always too noisy, too chaotic for her. Her brain always registered it as something bad, or something bad was going to happen at any second. Violet’s memories always went back to the one time a tree crashed onto the roof of her father’s trailer. Now _ that _ was a disaster. She was only five when the uncontrolled event happened, so the memory now is just a blur in her mind. All she remembers from that night was the constant shouting of her parents and the cries coming from her grandmother’s cat, whom the Adlon family was babysitting at the time while the woman went on a brief vacation to clear her mind.  
  
A soft crash of thunder echoed throughout the blonde’s room, dragging her out of her roller coaster of thoughts. She glanced over at her clock to read what time it was. Almost six thirty in the morning. Violet croaked out yet another groan, gliding her fingers through her bedhead hair. At least her room was growing to become lighter thanks to the witchcraft of time. 

Violet sat up upon her bed once more, letting out a squeaky yawn and gently rubbing her eyes. The girl would go on her phone, but one the device was dead and two the brightness would make her go blind. So instead, she decided to just sit in bed and dealt with the silence surrounding her bedroom. The only sound that was heard besides the obnoxious beeping of her alarm clock was the thunderstorm roaring outside her bedroom window.  
  
That silence didn’t last very long, however. Soon after, a pulpy thud from downstairs startled Violet. Her sea green eyes trailed over to her bedroom door, a brow raised as she listened closely for the sound again. Her ears didn’t pick up the sound, instead picking up a quiet hiss of curses near the bottom of the staircase. Her immediate thought was that her mother came home and forgot to turn on a light. The more Violet thought, however, the more she realized in fear that her mother was out of town for the weekend, and she had the entire house to herself.

Someone else was inside. Someone could be breaking in.

Violet’s defensive instincts perked up, the girl faintly slipping out of her bed. Her feet shivered to the touch of her icy wood floors, but that wasn’t important right now. She tiptoed over to her door, but before she reached the piece of wood, she went over to her desk and picked up one of her rollerblades, fading streaks of rainbow colors on the sides of the shoe. The wheels were filthy too, the pale pink paint chipping off. It was clear it was showing its age. Violet grasped the rollerblade tightly in her hand, slowly making her way to the door. Her hand hesitantly reached out to the doorknob, shivering a smidge when her bare fingers gripped the metal knob.  
  
The first thing that greeted Violet on the other side of the door was the pitch black hallway of her home. Picture frames could barely be seen on the haggard blue walls, mainly just Violet and her mother alongside some close friends. The stainless white doors drawn down the rest of the hallway were closed shut, signalling that no one had gone upstairs yet. Good.

Another thud echoed from downstairs. It was louder this time, sending a quick shiver down Violet’s spine. They hadn’t felt. Fuck. Rollerblade in hand, the blonde slowly descended the stairs. Her eye twitched whenever she came in contact with a step that creaked. Soon she reached the main floor of her home. 

Nothing seemed out of the ordinary yet. Everything was where it should be. So what the hell did Violet just hear?  
  
Suddenly she heard the noise again, it being right beside her ear. She screeched, raising her rollerblade and prepared to hit something. Instead, she was met with the face of her freckled boy friend, Louis. Her eyes widened to the sight of the boy, her arm that held the rollerblade remaining up in the air.  
  
“_Louis_??” Violet quietly hissed out, keeping a firm grip on her rollerblade while slowly lowering it down. “What the fuck are you doing here…?!”  
  
The pure terror from Louis’ face suddenly dropped among seeing the blonde, a grin replacing his widened eyes. “Violet! Thank god, I was worried I was gonna have to wake you up. I’m here to pick you up!”  
  
Violet blinked. “Pick me- pick me up? To go where?”  
  
“The mall! Duh!”  
  
“Louis-” Violet pinched the bridge of her nose. “Louis it’s like six in the morning! It’s too early for this shit! Plus, the mall’s probably not even open!”  
  
“Wait, you think we’re going to the mall down the street? Near Mitch and Willy’s house?”  
  
“Wh- yeah?? What other mall would we go to?”  
  
Louis laughed, shoving his fists into the pockets of his pale orange silk pants. “We’re not going there, silly! That place is so boring! We’re going to the one down the road, Brody suggested we check it out.”  
  
“Down the-” Violet paused her sentence, thinking for a quick moment. The realization suddenly whacked her right in the face. “Wait a minute, isn’t that mall like three hours away??”  
  
“Sure is!” Louis revealed a bag, one of Violet’s old sport bags, in which he was holding behind his back, and shoved it into the girl’s chest. “I packed a bunch of things for you in case you needed it. You know, money, snacks for the car, all the goodies!”  
  
Violet stared at the boy in front of her. No way were they really going out _ three _ hours just to go to… a mall. A mall! Out of all the places they could have driven the long, dragging hours that would’ve all been worth it in the end, the teenagers Violet called her friends chose to visit some rundown, crowded mall. And it was most likely in the middle of nowhere.  
  
“C’mon Vi,” Louis faked a pout. “Why the long face?”  
  
“You really expect me to drag my ass out to your fancy as fuck vehicle and sit in it for three hours just to go to some… mall?”  
  
“My car? Oh no no no,” Louis chuckled shortly. Violet furrowed her brows in confusion. “Sophie drove me here to pick you up, she and Brody are waiting outside in the car. C’mon!”  
  
Violet groaned upon hearing the news. “Why must you put me through this pain?”  
  
“Stop being so grumpy, Vi, you’ll have fun! I swear!”  
  
\------

Violet was, in fact, not having fun.

She never expected shopping with Sophie and Brody, alongside Louis, would be such a nightmare. Sure, spending quality time (as Louis would say) with friends is always a pleasurable thing, but _ god _ Violet never expected the trio to take forever looking in a singular section of a store. Store after store after store, they’d carry out bag after bag after bag. Violet’s heels were already beginning to hurt by the time they reached their third store of the day.

That’s why she was so thankful to finally arrive at the food court, already smelling the heavenly smell of chicken nuggets just waiting for her to buy and enjoy. Those nuggets were the main reason she came with the others in the first place, malls always had good food.

Sophie was in the middle of telling some story, Violet wasn’t really paying attention so she didn’t know what the redhead was talking about. She just kept her focus on the glory in front of her, the delicious golden nuggets of chicken that she loved so dearly. Louis always laughed at how that was one of the only things the blonde would eat, but Violet didn’t care. She enjoyed them, and no one was going to take that away from her.

“- And _ that’s _how me and Brody got together!” Sophie finished off her story with a wide grin, the ruffles to her sunny yellow tank top bouncing off her shoulders when she made the slightest movement. Her smile however was soon replaced with a frown when she noticed Violet was hardly paying any attention to them, staring off into space. “Violet, were you even listening?”

The question dragged the blonde out of her daydreams, her sea green eyes meeting blue ones that spiked like ice. “Uh, no.” She simply admitted.

Sophie groaned, slurping up a spoonful of her chicken noodle soup that she had ordered from some fancy Chinese place across where they sat in the food court. Brody, sitting next to the girl chuckled faintly at her girlfriend’s reaction. 

“Relax Soph,” Louis too laughed as the redhead silently grumbled in her seat. “It’s obvious Vi isn’t gonna pay attention to a story like that.”

“He’s right, for once,” Violet picked up a nugget and heaved it into her mouth, but immediately cringed. “My god, this sauce isn’t gonna work with this chicken.”

“You sound like Brody and Mitch’s poor relationship.”

Violet paused on chewing the piece of chicken in her mouth, blinking at what Sophie had just said. “Wait- Brody and Mitch dated?”

“Yep!” Sophie took an obnoxiously long slurp of the broth in her soup, then slammed the bowl down on the table. “They dated for like two days.”

“It was not two days!” Brody instantly chimed in, grumbling as she tugged her fluffy navy blue coat tighter around her body. “It was more like one.”

Louis spat out his sip of bubble tea. Sophie cackled in her seat.

“I’m serious!” Brody angrily shoved a forkful of her coleslaw into her mouth, sauce dragging along her chin. “We had lunch one day and then figured out it just wasn’t gonna work out.” She aggressively chewed on her food as she spoke.

“You’re so cute when you’re angry,” Sophie grinned, planting a sweet kiss on Brody’s cheek, but kissed right where the sauce to her coleslaw was and instantly gagged, which set Brody into a laughing state.

“Yeah yeah, laugh it up, honey!”

“Look how cute they are!” Louis whispered over to Violet, a grin plastered on his face. “Why can’t you and Clem be like that?”

Violet’s eyes widened to what the freckled boy said, sending a hard look over to him but couldn’t help the faint blush creeping up her cheeks. “Not so loud, Lou!”

“What? Why? Ooh, right, they don’t know about Clementine. Alright, I’ll shut up.” Louis sunk in his seat and heaved the hood of his olive green sweatshirt up, sharply tugging at the drawstrings attached to it that caused his freckled face to vanish into the sweatshirt, which made Violet roll her eyes.

Their attention soon turned back to the two girls in front of them when Sophie slammed down her bowl once again, this time it being empty. “Well! I’m full as hell. Are you guys done eating?”

Everyone seemed to nod, causing Sophie to stand. The others followed suit, throwing out any trash they had before exiting the food court, bellies full to the drim.

“Ooo, Soph Soph! Look at that store!” Brody spoke up, excitedly gesturing over to a small antique shop at the corner of the hallway they were currently walking along. “Can we go there, pretty pretty please?” She added a set of puppy eyes to attempt and bribe her girlfriend into going.

Sophie pursed her lips to the sight of the shop. “I don’t know Brody, you know I get bored in those kinds of shops…”

“I’ll go!” Louis suddenly spoke, swinging closer to the auburn-haired girl, which made her smile widen. “Antique shops are one of my favorites!”

“Great!” She squealed out, before turning to Sophie and Violet. “You guys can probably find some store to look elsewhere in, right?”

The two girls connected looks before both giving her a stern nod. Brody swept her hand up and gripped Louis’ arm, practically dragging him over to the store and leaving the other two behind.

“Well, that just happened.”

“Yeah, no kidding,” Sophie rubbed her forehead. “Well, I guess we can find some store we both like, right?”

“We have very different tastes, Sophie.” Violet plainly pointed out.

“Yeah, yeah I know that Violet. Just uh, keep your eyes peeled?” 

Violet nodded, and soon the two were traveling around the mall again, hoping to find a store to explore. Like Violet said though, the two had quite distinct tastes in things, so finding a store they both could shop at was a toughie. Minutes later the redhead gave up, slouching upon an aging copper bench in the middle of the mall.

“I give up.” She breathed out, Violet sitting beside her.

“You give up way too easily.”

“I do not!” The redhead sat up and glanced at the blonde at her side. “I blame the mall. They have poor store choices.”

Violet snorted. “We passed by an art store if you wanna go in there.”

“Wait- we did?? When?!”

“Near that Claire’s, in the corner over there,” Violet pointed her finger down the hall, and like she said, a small art store sat in the corner of the hall. “I don’t mind looking in there with you.”

“You serious? Fuck yeah, let’s go!” Sophie instantly got up from the bench, Violet following suit. They only took around four steps forward however before the taller girl suddenly halted in her tracks and clutched her forehead, quietly hissing in some sort of pain. Violet too stopped, staring at the redhead. “Woah, you okay?”  
  
“Y-Yeah, yeah I’m okay- ack, fuck,” Sophie groaned to the sudden pain swelling from within her head. “Let’s just- let’s just hurry… I don’t wanna be here much longer anyways.”  
  
“Right.” Violet helped the redhead towards the store, keeping a close eye on her in case anything happened. Soon enough they reached the entrance to the shop, silver fairy lights dangling all across the top of the doorway and welcoming you inside. The two girls stepped in, and what they saw left them breathless. The shop was nothing like they’d ever seen before. It was so unique, had so much character to it. Art supplies were put for sale all around the store, each individual supply screaming at you to buy it. The sight made Sophie grin, quick to speed inside and get a glance at her options.

Violet knew very well she wasn’t into these sort of things, so she just trailed behind the redhead, watching her admire every little detail on every minor thing with a slight smile. It made her feel happy seeing Sophie happy. Knowing what she had gone through… losing a sister, not long after losing her brother, it was hard for her. She knew the girl had been through so much. So just seeing her having a smile on her face made the blonde feel some sort of warmth in her.

She was so caught up in her thoughts that she didn’t even notice that Sophie had come up right beside her, causing Violet to jump once seeing her. “Jesus you scared me. Ready to go?”  
  
“Just about, I wanna get a look at the back of the store.” And with that Sophie had ran off to where she said she would be. Violet rolled her eyes softly, but nonetheless followed right after her. Soon she met up with the taller girl, finding her standing quite still near a shelf of vintage paint brushes. Seeing the specific brushes and their bold uniqueness made Violet curious, and she too looked at the displayed objects that rested on the shelves.

Violet had never seen anything like them. The handles stood out like a deer in headlights, black like the dark of the night with scrapes and scratches digging into the wood like a vicious animal had attacked it. But there was something off about the brushes, too. Something about the presence made her feel… uneasy? Threatened? Whatever it was, it wasn’t a positive vibe.

“Uhh, hey Sophie? Do you think we should move to a-” Violet turned her head to glance at the redhead, only to come face to face with the said girl. She yelped softly, her breath hitching slightly as she slowly processed who was in front of her. “Jesus you scared me… you wanna move somewhere else?”  
  
“But I’m not done looking at these.” Sophie blandly said, causing Violet to raise a brow. That was weird. Since when did Sophie ever talk in such a dull voice?

“C’mon, I don’t like the feeling I get while standing here.” Violet tried reasoning with her, but it was no use. She wasn’t going anywhere. Violet just sighed, rushing off to another side of the store. But the feeling didn’t go away, it just stuck to her like glue. Everywhere she went, it was there. But she couldn’t just get up and leave the store. She can’t leave Sophie behind like that. What kind of friend would that make her?  
  
So Violet instead just waited until the redhead was finished. It felt like forever, but eventually the blonde heard the sound of Sophie’s shoes collide into the floor and stop beside her. Violet turned her head, moving to speak to the redhead, but paused upon noticing her expression. Something was off, way off. Sophie normally had some cheeky smile on her face or had a bright shine to her icy blue eyes. But her expression now looked to be sluggish. It showed barely any sort of emotion to it.

“Um, Soph? You good?” Violet tried asking, getting nothing but a stare that sent shivers down her spine. After nothing but silence later Violet awkwardly coughed. “Sophie? You okay?”  
  
A few seconds seemed to feel like an eternity, but Sophie eventually blinked, seeming to snap out of her strange trance. “H-Huh? What?”

“Fucking christ Sophie, what the hell was that about?”

Sophie instantly lifted her fingertips to her forehead, rubbing it gently. “Sorry, I just… got a real bad headache…”

“Yeah, no fucking kidding,” Violet huffed softly, but she would be lying if she said she wasn’t concerned for her friend. “C’mon, we should probably leave.”

“That sounds like a great idea.” Sophie began moving towards the door to the store, but was soon stopped by the blonde.

“Wait, you’re not getting anything?”

Sophie shrugged slightly. “Nah, I already have a bunch of stuff at home… but it was nice looking at it all.”

“Right…” Violet gave the redhead an odd look, but ultimately dropped it, the two leaving the store and entering back into the chaotic halls. Except they weren’t chaotic, much to their surprise. There was barely a person in sight. Even the stores they passed looked to be empty. Violet raised a confused brow as they continued to walk. “Where is everyone? Could’ve sworn this place was swarming with people before.”

“No idea.” 

There it was again. That same sluggish voice. Violet shifted her head to glance at Sophie, catching sight of her expression. It was blank again, lacking emotion. The sight made the blonde frown, pausing in her tracks. Seeing the girl beside her made Sophie stop walking too, looking back at Violet. “Is something wrong?” She asked, that simple tone tickling at the tip of her tongue.

“Sophie, what the hell’s wrong with you? Is your headache this bad?”

Sophie just blinked at her, but did it slowly, causing a small shiver to run down Violet’s spine. “I’m fine, Violet, really.”

“Are you sure?”

“Positive.” Sophie managed to crack a smile, which made Violet feel only a smidge bit better about the odd situation. Soon the two were walking again, not sputtering out a word. The more they walked, the more that unwelcoming feeling strengthened around the blonde. It sent shivers down her spine, even in the pale tan sweater she wore over a clean white long sleeve. Strands of her hair whipped in front of her face, almost like a gust of wind had just flown past her. Something was off, Violet felt it the second she and Sophie stepped into that art store.  
  
Violet wanted to say something about it, but what? Sophie would probably think she was going crazy. Now that she thought of it, maybe Violet was even thinking she was going crazy. Nothing was going to happen. She was just overthinking all of this. The blonde took a deep breath. She needed to calm down, that’s all. They were going to find Brody and Louis, and then they were going to get the hell away from the mall.  
  
The silence between her and Sophie wasn’t helping either. It felt so awkward, just the two of them walking side by side in a mall while saying not even a simple word to each other. Violet hated it. She hated it so much. But at the same time she felt scared to try anything, it was clear something was slithering in the back of Sophie’s mind that caused her to suddenly act up. So she remained quiet, eating up at the silence between them. That silence, however, ended much sooner than Violet had expected, and the words that slid out of the redhead’s mouth was something Violet never thought she’d hear coming from her.  
  
“So, how’s your good friend Clementine?”  
  
Violet immediately froze in her tracks. Her eyes grew wide, a shaky breath escaping her dried up lips. She was slow to do it, but she shifted her gaze over to look at the taller girl, only to see that she was staring directly at her. A smile formed on her face, one that sent endless shivers down Violet’s spine. What the actual fuck.

“W-What?”  
  
“How is she?” Sophie repeated, the smile not leaving her face. “I hope she’s well, since she’s… you know, dead.” She ended her sentence with a high pitched giggle.

Violet continued to keep her gaze on her, mouth hung ajar. Fear and pure terror bubbled from within her. How the hell does she know about Clementine? Was she spying on them? “How- how do you know about Clem?”  
  
Sophie laughed at the question. In fact, it wasn't even a laugh. It was more like a cackle, a scratchy cackle. Almost sounding like she had been smoking a pack of cigarettes or a bunch of weed recently. But Sophie never smokes… right?  
  
“Oh dear Violet,” The girl’s laughter calmed down, her smile replaced with a smug smirk. “He sees everything. And you, my friend, have perked up his interests.”  
  
That was the last thing Sophie said before her frosty blue eyes rolled back and her body collapsed to the floor. Violet panicked at the sight, quick to rush over to the redhead and drop down onto her knees. Gripping the girl’s shoulders, she shook them gently. “Sophie? Sophie!” She cried out, the knot previously in her stomach coming back among hearing no response.

Just then, Brody and Louis appeared turning the corner. They were so caught into their conversation that they didn’t seem to spot the two on the mall floors. Bags clutched in their hands, the duo inched closer and closer to them.  
  
“Sophie’s a real pain in the ass sometimes, but I swear she’s the- oh my god!!” Brody paused mid-sentence, her eyes widening once she caught sight of her girlfriend. She was quick to drop the bags in her hands and let them tumble to the floor. It was clear as glass her panic level was out of this world, quick to rush to the other side of the redhead. “What the fuck happened?!”  
  
“I- I don’t know!” Violet began explaining, stuttering rapidly as she spoke. “We- we went into this art store and then- then she just acted strange and then- we just had a conversation and she just- just fell!”  
  
“Louis!” Brody screamed, both him and Violet widening their eyes at the sudden change of voice. “Call someone! An ambulance, her parents, anyone!” When the freckled boy hesitated, Brody’s hands began to shake. Madly. “Now!!”  
  
Louis was then quick to pull out his phone, dialling the specific three digit number and stuttering out what had happened to the other person on the line. Violet and Brody remained by Sophie’s side, the auburn haired girl stroking her girlfriend’s striking red hair gently. “You’ll be okay… y-you gotta be…”  
  
“She’s gonna be okay Brody, don’t worry.” Violet attempted to reassure her.

“We- we should’ve just stuck together! Or- or maybe you guys shouldn’t h-have gone into that _ fucking _ store!” Brody rose her voice again, sending a threatening finger over to the blonde.  
  
Violet widened her eyes. There it was again, that same fit of rage. “Woah- hey! Don’t go blaming me, it wasn’t my idea!” She knew she was lying. It was obvious to her the words leaking out of her lips were fake, but she didn’t want to upset Brody even further.

Brody took a long, shaky deep breath. “R-Right… right, I’m sorry. I’m just… fuck, I- I’m worried.”  
  
“I know you are,” Violet reached over and gently squeezed one of Brody’s hands. “She’ll be okay, she’s strong.”  
  
Brody sniffled, letting out a soft laugh. “Yeah… you’re right, you’re right. Sophie i-is strong.”  
  
Right as the words slipped out of her mouth, a team of paramedics slipped into view and rushed over to the scene. Two men were carrying a forest green stretcher, the fabric attached on it fading and brightly showing its old age. Another set of men followed suit, pausing once close enough to the group of teens.  
  
“Here, we got her,” One of the men grumbled instantly, having strikingly black hair and tan like skin. Violet and Brody were fast to step away from the unconscious redhead, another man with ginger like hair stepping towards the other man and joined him in lifting the girl up onto the stretcher. Another pair of men held the stretcher as the redhead was lifted onto it, and once she was on sped back outside to where the ambulance was parked near the front of the mall doors. Brody didn’t even mutter a goodbye to Violet and Louis and followed the paramedics outside to where they led her girlfriend, leaving Violet and Louis alone in the mall. The pair stood there silently, watching as the men and their friends faded out of view. Everything just… happened so fast. It was insane.  
  
“Louis?” Violet was the first to speak up, her voice barely even a whisper.  
  
The boy shifted his head to look at the girl. “Yeah?”  
  
“I think-” She bit her lip. “I think… the guy who murdered Clem is watching us.”  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello everyone!! finally i have chapter eight done and ready for y’all!!
> 
> i am so very sorry that this series is being updated at such random times, i swear i’m horrible at finishing stuff on time. but i finally have this chapter done!!
> 
> i swear this chapter was both fun and stressful to write. there were scenes i was really excited writing down while there were other scenes i was just sitting in bed thinking “what the heck am i doing”. BUt i got it all done :3
> 
> so far i have very little plans for chapter nine, but! i plan on starting it soon since i have a basic idea for how the chapter is gonna plan out. until then, i hope you enjoyed this one!!!


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